Angels miss their protective Shields

A rock-solid bullpen has been the foundation of the Angels’ playoff-contending teams since 2002, but in recent weeks, the usually reliable relief corps has left the Angels much like Orange County and the Inland Empire during Sunday morning’s magnitude-4.7 earthquake:

On shaky ground.

Sunday night it was Scot Shields who failed to hold a lead, giving up an eighth-inning grand slam to Hank Blalock that was the difference in the Angels’ 8-7 loss to the Texas Rangers, and the latest in a string of rocky outings that could cost the veteran right-hander his setup job, at least temporarily.

“We need Scotty, we need him to get going,” said Manager Mike Scioscia. “We’re going to have to look at a couple things, because the bottom line is, for us to reach our goal, we need to hold leads, and tonight was one that got away.”

Shields took a 5-4 lead into the eighth but quickly discovered he had no command of his breaking ball. Relying almost exclusively on fastballs, he gave up a single to Michael Young and a one-out walk to Brad Wilkerson, then hit Frank Catalanotto with a pitch to load the bases.

Blalock then drove a 2-and-2 fastball over the right-field wall to give the Rangers an 8-5 lead.

“I couldn’t throw my fastball for strikes consistently, and I couldn’t throw my breaking ball anywhere close to the strike zone,” Shields said. “That’s what I get.”

The Angels rallied against closer C.J. Wilson in the ninth, Howie Kendrick leading off with a double, Robb Quinlan hitting a one-out RBI single and Jeff Mathis, who hit a two-run homer in the third, doubling to advance Quinlan to third.

Reggie Willits hit a soft liner to third for the second out, Orlando Cabrera was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Vladimir Guerrero walked to force in a run to make it 8-7. But Garret Anderson, who hit a three-run home run off Wilson in Saturday’s loss, struck out on a check swing that both he and Scioscia disputed.

Replays, however, showed umpire Lance Barksdale made the right call, and the Angels missed another chance to pad their 6 1/2 -game lead over struggling Seattle in the American League West.

Shields has allowed six homers this season, four that lost games and one that tied a game the Angels eventually lost. He had a 9.00 earned-run average in 12 August appearances, giving up 11 runs in 11 innings, but seemed to rebound with three scoreless outings to end the month.

Then came Sunday night’s debacle, his fifth blown save and fifth loss of the season. Justin Speier probably will replace Shields as the primary setup man, and left-hander Darren Oliver could assume a more prominent late-inning role.

“He’s got an arm that has made him one of the top setup men in baseball the last few years, and right now he’s not quite where he needs to be,” Scioscia said of Shields. “We’re going to have to get him moving forward for us to reach our goal.”

If Shields does move forward, the Angels’ World Series hopes would improve if he drags Speier and closer Francisco Rodriguez along with him.

Though Speier got starter John Lackey out of a two-on, two-out jam by getting Ramon Vazquez to fly out to end the seventh inning Sunday, he had a 12.00 ERA in his previous six appearances, allowing eight runs and eight hits in six innings.

Rodriguez has blown three saves and allowed eight runs in 14 innings in his last 13 games, for a 5.14 ERA.

Lackey, who fell short in his bid for his 17th win, said it was “definitely surprising” to see Shields and the bullpen struggle, but Anderson, a 13-year veteran, wasn’t shocked.

“I’ve been around long enough, seen a lot of guys struggle,” Anderson said. “It’s nothing new. None of us are immune to it.”

Anderson said Shields and the bullpen shouldn’t feel they are weighing the team down.

“No one part of the team is more important than another,” he said. “We all have to click together. You can’t put everything on them, just like you can’t put everything on the offense. It’s a team effort. That’s what’s made us so good. We’ve played as a team.”

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com