Hunter powers Angels’ 11-6 win

BALTIMORE -- The team that many believe is one big bat away from being a World Series favorite has had a number of big bats emerge this month, and the Angels didn’t have to make one major move before Thursday’s non-waiver trade deadline to find them.

Torii Hunter hit two home runs, drove in five runs and scored four runs, and Juan Rivera broke open a one-run game with a three-run homer in the eighth inning Saturday night to lead the Angels to an 11-6 victory over the Baltimore Orioles in Camden Yards.

Casey Kotchman hit his second homer in two days, a two-run shot in the third inning, giving the Angels four homers in the game and 28 this month after hitting 20 homers in 26 games in June. The Angels improved their major league-best record to 64-39, tying the 1995 team for the best 103-game mark in franchise history.

“It was only a matter of time,” said Jon Garland, who got the win despite giving up five runs -- on Aubrey Huff’s three-run homer in the first inning and Luke Scott’s two-run shot in the sixth -- in 5 1/3 innings. “You can’t keep this offense down for long.”

Indeed, Hunter is hitting .308 (20 for 65) with six homers and 14 runs batted in this month. Rivera, who bumped struggling outfielder Gary Matthews Jr. from the lineup in late June, is batting .340 (16 for 47) with five homers and 12 RBIs and 10 runs in July.

Howie Kendrick is batting .395 (30 for 76) with 18 RBIs, Kotchman is hitting .291 (23 for 79) with three homers and 14 RBIs, and Garret Anderson is hitting .328 (22 for 67) with 15 RBIs.

“Guys are making adjustments in their roles, in their swings -- that’s what second-half players do,” Hunter said. “I’ve always been a second-half player because I’ve made the adjustments. I see Kotch and other guys doing the same thing.”

Hunter has spent time in the video room lately comparing his swing from 2006 and 2007 to this season and noticed his hands weren’t in the same place.

“I wasn’t getting my hands back; I wasn’t getting loaded,” Hunter said. “Getting my hands back might have helped me with pitch recognition. I’m getting more patient, getting strikes and seeing what happens. Man, I just figured it out after all these years. Hit strikes? I didn’t know that!”

It didn’t hurt that the Angels opened a 10-game trip in Camden Yards, where “this time of year balls jump out of the yard,” Garland said.

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com