Angels continue walking the walk

One extremely rare walk-off, closer Francisco Rodriguez’s shame-filled trek from the mound to the dugout before completing his job in the ninth inning, was followed by one that is becoming a rather pleasant refrain in Angel Stadium.

Kendry Morales lined a run-scoring single past diving first baseman Ryan Garko with one out in the bottom of the 10th inning Friday night to give the Angels their 10th walk-off win of the season, a dramatic 3-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians.

Chone Figgins, making his first start since Aug. 21, doubled to right against reliever Rafael Betancourt to lead off the 10th and took third on Orlando Cabrera’s fly to right. The Indians walked Garret Anderson intentionally for the third time in the game and brought their infield in for Morales, who grounded into a double play to end the sixth.

But this time, the cleanup hitter smoked a hit to right to score Figgins, and the Angels extended their American League West lead over Seattle to a season-high nine games with 21 games left. Their magic number to clinch the division is 14 and they are a season-high 27 games over .500.

“We don’t quit,” said reliever Scot Shields, who bailed out Rodriguez from a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the ninth and struck out two of three in the 10th to earn the win. “Our lineup, one through nine, can get you. We might not be able to hit home runs with people, but we’ll put pressure on them.”

Much of that pressure Friday was applied by Figgins, who returned to the lineup after sitting out 2 1/2 weeks because of a sprained left wrist.

The third baseman scored all three of the Angels’ runs, doubling to lead off the first and scoring on Anderson’s single, which gave the left fielder 32 RBIs in his last 17 games and RBIs in 12 consecutive games, a franchise record. Figgins hit a one-out single and scored on Cabrera’s double in the sixth.

His 10th-inning hit toward the line in right “should have only been a single,” Shields said. “Taking the extra base helped us win the game.”

So did Figgins’ speed on Cabrera’s ensuing line out to right fielder Franklin Gutierrez, who was not that deep.

“A lot of people don’t do that,” Figgins said, “but he caught it back on his heels.”

Figgins, hitting a major-league-best .403 since May 31, also walked in the eighth.

“Figgy picked up where he left off,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “On a night where we had to create some offense, Figgy was a catalyst.”

Angels starter John Lackey was brilliant for seven innings, limiting the Indians to one run and six hits, striking out six and walking one, and reliever Justin Speier threw a scoreless eighth with the help of catcher Jeff Mathis, who picked off Asdrubal Cabrera at first base after Cabrera’s leadoff single.

Lackey seemed primed to notch his 17th victory when Rodriguez took a 2-1 lead into the ninth, but Garko, the former Anaheim Servite High star, led off with a home run to right-center, his 16th of the season, to tie the score, 2-2.

It marked the third straight appearance and seventh time in 14 outings that Rodriguez has given up a run. The closer has given up 10 earned runs in 15 innings in 14 games since July 25, an earned-run average of 6.00 with four blown saves.

After Garko’s homer, Jhonny Peralta flied to center and Kenny Lofton struck out. Gutierrez walked, Chris Gomez reached on Figgins’ error, and Grady Sizemore walked to load the bases.

Scioscia pulled Rodriguez for Shields, who had a 9.00 ERA in 12 August appearances, was demoted from his set-up role and had to throw a simulated game Tuesday to fix his mechanical problems.

Shields, pitching aggressively and confidently, caught Asdrubal Cabrera looking at a fastball for strike three to preserve the tie. His scoreless 10th positioned him for his 35th career relief win, breaking Dave LaRoche’s franchise record.

“It means I’ve been around here for a couple years,” Shields said. “It feels good. I just hope I don’t catch [Troy Percival] for the career loss record.”

--

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com