Santana is lost on road again

Ervin Santana lost on the road, again. He pitched poorly, again. He did not give his team a chance to win, again.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” Santana said.

The Angels won’t say how much longer they can keep starting Santana on the road, but he certainly is testing their patience. The Detroit Tigers pounded Santana on Thursday, rocking him for four runs in the first inning and rolling to a 12-0 rout, the Angels’ most lopsided shutout loss in 20 years.

Carlos Guillen homered twice and drove in five runs, and Jeremy Bonderman and Wilfredo Ledezma combined for the shutout. The Angels got four hits, none after the fourth inning.

The Tigers tagged Santana for eight runs in 3 2/3 innings, his shortest start of an already rocky season. In six road starts, Santana is 0-5 with a 9.30 earned-run average. In four home starts, he is 3-1 with a 2.33 ERA.

The disparity is extreme, but not new. In his career, he is 9-16 with a 7.15 ERA on the road.

Is Santana concerned about a demotion to triple A?

“No,” he snapped. “What kind of question is that?”

Manager Mike Scioscia said the Angels’ goal remains “to fix him.” Scioscia did not directly answer the question of whether that might be better accomplished in triple A, but he indicated Santana would not have all summer to work through his struggles.

“This isn’t going to be an instructional league for Ervin,” he said.

Santana’s next two starts are scheduled at home, and the Angels could take advantage of off days to limit him to one road start in the next 30 days. Scioscia said it would not be practical to constantly juggle the rotation so Santana would not start on the road.

“That’s dysfunctional,” Scioscia said. “You’re going to pitch him once every three weeks? You guys are making this a home-road issue.”

Scioscia agreed that Santana’s home and road stats are “like night and day” but argued the issue is consistency, in locating pitches and getting ahead of hitters.

In the first inning, after Curtis Granderson flied out deep to left field, Santana hit Placido Polanco, on the final pitch of an eight-pitch at-bat.

And then the rockets really flew. Gary Sheffield singled and Magglio Ordonez singled, and Guillen homered. Santana failed to throw a first-pitch strike to Polanco, Sheffield, Ordonez or Guillen.

Sheffield homered in the third inning, and Santana left in the fourth. He gave up seven hits, walked three and hit a batter. He has given up 13 home runs this season, the most in the majors -- 11 of them on the road, in 30 innings.

“I believe in him. At least I do,” catcher Jose Molina said. “I don’t know if anybody else does.”

Molina explained he was not saying other players had lost confidence in Santana, just that human nature might not be on Santana’s side.

“When people go through a struggle, the first thing that people do is lose that confidence and trust,” Molina said.

Gary Matthews Jr., the Angels’ center fielder, said he was not concerned about Santana. After all, Santana led the team with 16 victories last season.

“I don’t think he won all 16 games at home, did he?” Matthews said. “I hope he doesn’t put too much stock in it. We just flat-out took a whipping today.”

bill.shaikin@latimes.com