Angels give it away to Indians, 4-3

It’s the ninth inning and you’re leading by one run. Do you know who your closer is?

The Angels aren’t quite sure, now that a pair of bum ankles has sidelined Francisco Rodriguez, at least temporarily.

Mike Scioscia opted for the “closer by committee,” which is usually a manager’s polite way of saying he doesn’t really have a reliever throwing well enough to seize the closer’s job, and the lack of a lock-down, late-game arm hurt the Angels on Tuesday night.

One strike away from victory, Justin Speier walked Asdrubal Cabrera on a full-count pitch and hung his next pitch, a slider, to Cleveland slugger Travis Hafner, who belted a prodigious two-run home run to right field in the ninth inning.

Right-hander Jake Westbrook blanked the Angels in the bottom of the ninth, getting Vladimir Guerrero to bounce into a double play, to finish his complete game and give the Indians a 4-3 victory at Angel Stadium.

“I made the wrong pitch to the wrong guy -- no excuses,” Speier said. “It was belt-high, on a tee. I made some good pitches with the slider to left-handers, but you have to be careful with him.”

The loss ended the Angels’ string of 163 wins in games they were leading after eight innings, a major league-high streak that dated to an April 19, 2006, loss to the Minnesota Twins.

The loss and the blown save went to Speier, who struck out Casey Blake with two on to end the eighth and retired the first two batters in the ninth before running into trouble.

“Whether it’s the seventh, eighth or ninth, the game is on the line no matter what inning you pitch in,” Speier said. “I don’t consider [closing] any different than being a setup guy. The mentality is the same. You’re pitching with the game on the line, and you have to make good pitches. It’s just a different inning.”

Scioscia wants left-hander Darren Oliver, who threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings despite hitting two batters and walking one Tuesday, and right-hander Scot Shields, who wasn’t available the previous two nights, to have the same approach.

“You’re not going to have a full contingent of arms on any night,” Scioscia said. “There were times last year when Frankie and Shields were down, and we won ballgames.

“The bullpen hasn’t really fallen into place yet this season, but we have confidence in what Darren and Justin can do at the end of games. They just didn’t get it done tonight.”

One bad pitch to Hafner rendered moot Guerrero’s two-run home run against Westbrook in the sixth inning, a mammoth blast to center field that capped a three-run inning, and another fine start by Santana.

Santana gave up two runs and six hits in six innings and was in line for the win despite teetering on the brink of trouble.

Santana escaped the first inning unscathed when Guerrero and first baseman Casey Kotchman teamed on a relay to cut down Hafner, who was trying to score from first on Victor Martinez’s two-out double into the right-field corner.

Santana got out of a first-and-third, one-out jam in the third inning when he got Cabrera to fly to shallow center field, the runners holding, and Hafner to fly to left.

The right-hander nearly escaped a second-and-third, one-out jam in the fifth inning when he got Grady Sizemore to pop out to second base, but Cabrera lined a two-out, two-run single to right field to give the Indians a 2-0 lead.

Cleveland loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth, but Santana got Carroll on a routine fly to right field, ending the inning.

“They had a lot of baserunners, but he pitched out of trouble, he made some key pitches to keep us in the game,” Scioscia said of Santana. “He pitched well enough to give us a chance to win.”

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com