Angels put their rally caps on in 5-3 win

What’s that thing called again, where a team puts a few guys on base and brings them home? Oh yeah, a rally. It had been so long since the Angels had one, you almost forgot what they were like.

Tuesday night, the Angels, limited to two runs, four extra-base hits and a .153 average in their previous four games, provided a little refresher course.

Vladimir Guerrero chopped a run-scoring single through a drawn-in infield to tie the score in the eighth inning, and Garret Anderson, who hit .188 with one home run in June, crushed a two-out, two-run homer to lift the Angels to a 5-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics.

“I always feel confident in my ability to hit,” said Anderson, who drove Alan Embree’s 3-and-1 inside fastball over the right-field wall. “I just keep plugging away. I don’t panic. I know things will turn. I’m not going to hit five home runs in one at-bat. You have to keep chipping away, a little at a time.”

The A’s broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the eighth when Mark Ellis hit a solo home run against reliever Scot Shields.

But first baseman Casey Kotchman, who saved a run with a diving stop of Daric Barton’s grounder with a runner on second to end the sixth, led off the bottom of the eighth with a double to right against Embree.

Maicer Izturis’ sacrifice bunt moved pinch-runner Reggie Willits to third, and Guerrero, after fouling off four pitches, capped an eight-pitch at-bat with a run-scoring single to left to make it 3-3.

Torii Hunter struck out, but Anderson, who was given the previous two games off so he could, in the words of Manager Mike Scioscia, “let a little air out, regroup,” hit the go-ahead home run.

Closer Francisco Rodriguez retired the side in order in the ninth for his major league-leading 33rd save, and the Angels pushed their American League West lead over the A’s to 4 1/2 games.

“The whole night we had good at-bats,” Scioscia said. “Kotch led off the eighth with a big double, Izzy got the bunt down, and Vlad fouled off some tough pitches before getting one through.”

One night after hacking at so many first pitches that A’s left-hander Greg Smith needed only 101 pitches to throw a complete game, the Angels actually made Rich Harden work, pushing the Oakland right-hander’s pitch count to 91 in five innings.

They scored only twice against Harden, rallying in the third when Gary Matthews Jr. was hit by a pitch, Howie Kendrick doubled, Jeff Mathis hit a sacrifice fly and Kotchman a run-scoring groundout, but they knocked the ace out after five.

“You try to build off that,” Hunter said. “We only had eight hits, and we didn’t score 10 runs, but we battled. Trust me, we’ve been frustrated. This feels so good.”

Angels starter Ervin Santana, whose girlfriend went into labor before the game -- the couple is expecting a boy -- gave up two runs and eight hits in seven innings, striking out seven and walking two.

The right-hander threw 118 pitches -- 80 were strikes -- and blanked the A’s on three hits from the third through seventh innings.

Shields (4-2) went from potential loser to winner when Anderson, who is batting .259 with seven homers and 37 RBIs on the season, capped the eighth with his decisive blow.

“I have high expectations for myself,” Anderson said. “It’s frustrating, but we’re in first place and playing well as a team. It’s hard to hang your head. You have to put personal goals aside.”

The Angels hope Tuesday’s hit catapults Anderson toward another strong second half. He hit .305 with 13 homers and 65 RBIs after the All-Star break in 2007.

“It’s going to take more than one swing to turn things around,” Scioscia said, “but hopefully this carries over, because he’s a guy we’re counting on to be a big run producer.”

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com