Lackey is out-and-out terrific

His overall performance wasn’t quite as dominant, but for one long stretch Friday night, Angels right-hander John Lackey stirred memories of last July’s jewel, when he gave up a leadoff double to Oakland’s Mark Kotsay and retired the next 27 batters.

Relying primarily on well-placed fastballs and dropping the hammer with occasional overhand curves, Lackey retired 16 straight from the first through sixth innings to lead the Angels to a 6-3 victory over Texas at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

Lackey (5-3) needed only 88 pitches to blank the Rangers on two hits through eight innings, and he was three outs away from teaming with Kelvim Escobar to become the first Angels pitchers to throw back-to-back shutouts since Chuck Finley and Kirk McCaskill blanked the Red Sox in Fenway Park on Aug. 2-3, 1989.

But Kenny Lofton singled to open the ninth and scored on Michael Young’s double to right-center, and after Mark Teixeira grounded out, Sammy Sosa slammed his 596th career homer, a two-run shot to left.

Manager Mike Scioscia took the ball from Lackey, who did not protest, and Scot Shields retired the next two batters to seal the Angels’ third straight win.

“He gave me my chance -- it’s on me after that,” Lackey said of Scioscia. “It would have been nice to get a shutout, but a win is a win.”

Lackey’s line: 8 1/3 innings, five hits, three runs, seven strikeouts, one walk, 95 pitches, 69 of them strikes.

“John pitched a terrific game, as good a game as I’ve seen him pitch,” Scioscia said. “It would have been nice to finish it off, but in the big picture, he got us 25 outs against a tough offensive club in a tough park to pitch.”

Lackey’s first adjustment on a humid, 83-degree night came before the game, when he threw some 25 warmup pitches instead of his usual 45.

“That bullpen is a straight microwave,” Lackey said. “I threw about 25 pitches and called it even.”

Lackey gave up a two-out single to Teixeira in the first inning but did not allow another hit until Young’s single to lead off the seventh. Lackey walked Sosa with one out, but with two on, he got Hank Blalock and Ian Kinsler to fly out, ending the inning. After a one-two-three eighth, Lackey faltered in the ninth.

“Everything was coming out of his hand so good,” catcher Mike Napoli said. “He was awesome. It was fun to catch. These games are easy for me to call when these guys have stuff like that.”

The Angels’ rotation, expected to be a strength, has gone 7-4 with a 2.79 earned-run average in the last 13 games, allowing 84 hits, striking out 69 and walking 17 in 90 1/3 innings.

“We have to pitch well,” Lackey said, “especially with so many guys being hurt.”

The Angels’ patchwork lineup, which is still without left fielder Garret Anderson and second baseman Howie Kendrick, provided plenty of support for Lackey on Friday night, scoring two runs in the third, the fifth and the ninth innings to send Vicente Padilla (1-5) to the loss.

Orlando Cabrera (single) and new cleanup batter Gary Matthews Jr. (sacrifice fly) knocked in runs in the third, Kinsler’s error on Matthews’ potential double-play grounder with the bases loaded in the fifth let in two runs, and Kendry Morales’ RBI double highlighted the Angels’ ninth.

Those two late runs provided a safety net for Lackey in the ninth.

“I challenged them,” Lackey said, “but they found a couple holes at the end.”

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com