It’s Matthews on the double

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Gary Matthews Jr. had two hits in his previous 24 at-bats when he stepped to the plate with the bases loaded in the sixth inning of a tie game Tuesday, and the Angels outfielder knew it.

“Any player who says he ignores the numbers, it’s a flat-out lie,” the right fielder said. “When you go through tough times, you know it.”

Manager Mike Scioscia was aware of Matthews’ struggles, which included a franchise record-tying three double-play grounders in Seattle on Saturday night, but he didn’t seem to care.

On a 2-and-0 pitch, with the dangerous Vladimir Guerrero on deck, Scioscia flashed a green light, and Matthews rewarded his manager’s faith in him with a three-run double to left-center field, propelling the Angels to a 7-4 victory over the Texas Rangers.

“Not on 2-and-0,” Scioscia said, when asked if he considered having Matthews take a pitch against reliever Josh Rupe. “That’s too good of a hitting count.

“Gary may not be squaring the ball up like he can, but he’s going to hit. If the pitch was in there, we all had confidence he’d get a good hack at it.”

With the score tied, 4-4, Maicer Izturis led off the sixth with a walk, Jeff Mathis bunted Izturis to second, and Erick Aybar singled so sharply to center that Izturis was held at third.

But right fielder Milton Bradley overthrew the cutoff man, one of several Rangers blunders, enabling Aybar to take second. Chone Figgins was walked intentionally, and Matthews, batting from the left side, broke the game open with his hit to left center.

“A good sign is where that ball was hit,” Scioscia said. “Gary is at his best when he’s using the whole field. He might have been getting a little pull-happy.”

Darren Oliver, Justin Speier, Scot Shields and Francisco Rodriguez combined for five scoreless innings in relief of wobbly starter Dustin Moseley, the best performance of the season for an Angels bullpen that entered with a 6.49 earned-run average, second worst in major leagues.

“The bullpen is vital to us,” Scioscia said. “It’s one of the biggest reasons we’ve performed so well the last eight or nine years, and we’re confident it will be a reason we achieve this year.”

Moseley, the reliever who is filling in for injured starter John Lackey, allowed four runs and seven hits and walked five in four innings, putting his team in a 4-0 hole. In three starts, the right-hander is 1-1 with a 7.80 ERA.

“I’m better than that,” Moseley said. “There’s no excuse. It’s just a lack of focus in some situations and not attacking the zone.”

Moseley’s teammates took him off the hook with a three-run fourth, which featured Casey Kotchman’s fourth homer of the season, a two-run shot off starter Kevin Millwood, and Figgins’ run-scoring single. Back-to-back doubles by Guerrero and Garret Anderson made it 4-4 in the fifth.

Aybar made an aggressive mistake, getting thrown out trying to steal third to end the fourth, but it was almost impossible to out-gaffe the Rangers on Tuesday.

Texas leadoff batter Ian Kinsler was picked off first in the first inning. No one covered second on Figgins’ stolen base in the third, and catcher Adam Melhuse’s throw went into center field.

Bradley overthrew that cutoff man in the sixth, and the Rangers wound up with two runners on third base in the seventh, thwarting a rally.

With Marlon Byrd on first base, David Murphy laced a ball to the gap in right center. Third base coach Matt Walbeck waved Byrd home, and Murphy never slowed around second, but Byrd stopped at third.

Center fielder Torii Hunter threw the ball to the infield, and Murphy was tagged out after a brief rundown.

Down by three in the ninth, Josh Hamilton was thrown out at second trying to advance on a ball that skipped away from catcher Jeff Mathis.

“Whatever type of mistakes you can make, we made, physical and mental,” Manager Ron Washington said after the Rangers’ fifth straight loss. “We played five bad games. Five . . . bad . . . games.”

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com