Willits is on the job for Angels

Reggie Willits, a humble, 25-year-old rookie from Chickasha, Okla., would never be so presumptuous as to think he has won the Angels’ left-field job with the hot streak he’s been on since Garret Anderson went down with a hip injury.

“I’m just holding the spot until Garret is ready,” Willits keeps saying.

Maybe not.

The feisty leadoff batter had three singles, a walk and scored two runs Thursday night to help the Angels defeat the Seattle Mariners, 7-3, in Safeco Field, the latest in a growing body of work that is beginning to draw comparisons to David Eckstein, the Angels’ spark plug during their 2002 World Series run.

Willits, whose ninth-inning sacrifice bunt moved an eventual insurance run from second to third, has hit safely in 20 of 22 games, pushing his average to .366, which leads all rookies, and his on-base percentage to .449. He ranks third on the team with 14 walks and fourth with 17 runs, even though he didn’t begin starting regularly until April 28.

The first-place Angels, who pushed their American League West lead over Seattle and Oakland to three games, are now 12-7 in Anderson’s absence and have scored 43 runs in their last seven games.

The combination of Willits at the top of the order and former leadoff batter Gary Matthews Jr. in the cleanup spot is working so well, Manager Mike Scioscia probably won’t tamper with it when Anderson returns.

“We have some offensive continuity right now,” Scioscia said. “Garret will be a part of that, but there are some things happening now that you might not want to rearrange.”

In other words, when Anderson returns, it may be as a designated hitter. Or, if he returns to left field, Willits will probably remain in the leadoff spot as a DH or rotating outfielder.

“It’s been one good at-bat after another for Reggie,” Scioscia said. “He’s doing a terrific job of making pitchers work, getting on base and scoring runs. He adds a nice situational look to our lineup. He’s been right in the middle of everything.”

Willits’ eighth multi-hit game of the season helped make a winner of Bartolo Colon, who gave up three runs and nine hits in seven innings to improve to 5-0, a remarkable start for a pitcher many didn’t think would return from a rotator cuff tear until June or July.

Colon struck out only one but was backed by some superb defense by Orlando Cabrera. The shortstop went to the hole to stab Jose Lopez’s grounder and made the long throw to first to end the sixth inning with a runner on second, and three times threw out the speedy Ichiro Suzuki at first on ground balls.

Catcher Jose Molina threw out Suzuki attempting to steal in the seventh, ending Suzuki’s AL-record streak of 45 straight stolen bases, and Vladimir Guerrero followed Willits’ first-inning single with a two-run home run to left off Seattle starter Jarrod Washburn, the fourth time this year Guerrero has hit a first-inning homer and the fifth time he has homered in Colon’s six starts.

“Maybe we better pitch Bart more often,” Scioscia said.

Said Colon, through an interpreter: “Every game I go up to Vlad and say, ‘Remember to hit a home run, I’m going to be pitching today.’ Vlad just walks away saying, ‘I don’t want to know. If I know, I probably won’t hit one.’ ”

Guerrero followed singles by Erick Aybar and Willits in the third with a run-scoring double to left, and Shea Hillenbrand’s two-out, two-run bloop single to left-center gave the Angels a 5-1 lead.

Molina doubled and scored on Cabrera’s single in the fourth, and Guerrero capped his three-hit night with a ninth-inning single.

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com