Angels are left deflated after bullpen meltdown

It had all the makings of one of those character-building wins, a night on which the Angels responded courageously to the adversity of losing Vladimir Guerrero to the disabled list before the game and starter Dustin Moseley after three innings to an elbow injury.

It ended with Minnesota celebrating a wild 11-9 victory in the Metrodome on Friday, Twins left fielder Jason Kubel completing the cycle with a game-winning grand slam in the eighth inning, and Angels pitching coach Mike Butcher sitting in Scot Shields’ locker, having a lengthy heart-to-heart talk with the struggling reliever.

“I blew the game,” Shields said tersely, as reporters approached. “That’s all I’m saying. Sorry.”

Shields, the usually reliable setup man, relieved Jose Arredondo in the eighth with two on and the Angels holding a 9-4 lead.

The right-hander fell behind all three batters he faced, giving up a run-scoring single to Mike Redmond, a walk to Nick Punto and a two-run double to Denard Span that pulled the Twins within two runs, 9-7. Of Shields’ 14 pitches, only five were strikes.

Manager Mike Scioscia, his bullpen nearly depleted, turned to Jason Bulger, who has spent most of the last four years at triple A for reasons that became abundantly clear Friday night.

Bulger can be effective when he’s hitting his spots and pitching with confidence, but he is maddeningly inconsistent.

The right-hander struck out Brendan Harris looking at a nice curve and walked Justin Morneau intentionally to load the bases.

Up stepped the left-handed Kubel, who hit an RBI double in the first, a single in the third and a triple in the sixth. Bulger hung an 0-and-1 curve, and Kubel crushed it into the upper deck in right-center field for a grand slam and the ninth cycle in Twins history.

Brian Fuentes, the Angels’ left-handed closer, never warmed up.

“We didn’t want to go one-plus innings with Brian,” Scioscia said. “Brian is going to be much better when he’s contained to the ninth inning.”

Shields used to own the eighth inning, but he is 0-1 with a 7.20 earned-run average in six games, with five walks and two strikeouts in five innings.

His struggles mirror that of a relief corps that is 0-4 with an 8.19 ERA in the team’s first 10 games.

“He says he’s fine physically, but the ball is not coming out of his hand like we know it can,” Scioscia said of Shields, who suffered from shin splints in spring training. “It’s something we have to look at. No one is ever 100%, but is it to a point where it’s affecting him this much? I don’t know.”

Moseley, who had surgery after the 2007 season to alleviate pressure on the ulna nerve, is another concern. Scioscia said the right-hander “felt a little burn in the nerve above his elbow,” but not in the same area as the surgery. Moseley described the feeling as tightness.

“It’s hard to tell right now,” said Moseley, who gave up two runs and five hits. “I’ll be able to determine [the extent of the injury] a little better [today]. I think I’ll be fine.”

If not, it could be another potentially devastating blow to a rotation that is without the injured John Lackey, Ervin Santana and Kelvim Escobar and lost 22-year-old right-hander Nick Adenhart, who was killed in an April 9 car crash.

“You’re going to be hit with challenges every day in this game,” Scioscia said. “You have to deal with them, and we will.”

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com