Angels hold off the Rays

It was the kind of game the Angels have lost far too often this season.

One in which they got a gutsy effort from their starting pitcher, only to see the effort unravel thanks to poor baserunning and even poorer relief pitching.

The difference Tuesday was the Angels actually won this time, escaping with a 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays when closer Brian Fuentes got the speedy Carl Crawford to bounce into a game-ending double play.

“That happens about as often as going 65 on the 101 freeway,” Manager Mike Scioscia said.

And while he was referring to the double play -- the first Crawford has grounded into this season -- he could just have well have been talking about the Angels winning a game they seemed destined to lose.

Consider:

After Jered Weaver battled through six innings in which he gave up two runs, reliever Darren Oliver hit two batters and wild-pitched them into scoring position in his first 12 pitches in the seventh before he loaded the bases with a walk.

Oliver “escaped” unscathed, however, when Carlos Pena lined a bullet right at first baseman Kendry Morales to start an inning-ending double play.

An inning later Jason Bulger replaced Oliver and gave up a home run on his first pitch.

In the top of the seventh, Howie Kendrick and Chone Figgins singled ahead of Bobby Abreu’s double. Only one run scored, though, since Kendrick was tagged out after taking a wide turn around second on Figgins’ hit.

Then in the ninth, Figgins was picked off first.

“We were fortunate tonight,” Scioscia said. “We caught a break.”

Well, not everyone.

After the game, Scioscia showed his patience is beginning to wane, shaking up a bullpen that has blown 11 saves and lost a league-high 13 games by sending right-hander Jose Arredondo to triple-A Salt Lake and recalling right-hander Kevin Jepsen.

“There’s no message being sent,” pitching coach Mike Butcher said. “What we need to do is go out there and pitch well.”

And Arredondo, who led all relievers with 10 wins last season, hasn’t done that this year, with his three losses tying him for the second-most among big-league relievers.

“He needs to get his confidence back,” Butcher said. “And once he gets his confidence back and pitches the way he can, he’s going to be back up here.”

There could be a few more moves before then, though, since Arredondo is hardly the only one struggling in the Angels’ bullpen, where Bulger and Justin Speier have ERAs higher than 5.00 and Oliver has given up more hits than innings pitched.

“We’re going to continue to try to find some chemistry that’s going to close it out,” Scioscia warned.

The Angels’ offensive chemistry seemed fine Tuesday, with Figgins singling twice and scoring twice and Abreu, Vladimir Guerrero and Juan Rivera adding two hits and an RBI apiece.

For Guerrero, the two-hit performance was his third in six games.

But after being staked to a 3-0 lead Weaver, who said he struggled all night, began to tire in the sixth when the Rays scored twice.

An inning later, Scioscia went to his bullpen, meaning no lead was safe until Crawford hit into the game-ending double play.

Might that rare play signify a turning point for the beleaguered bullpen? After nailing down his league-leading 16th save, Fuentes said he didn’t think so.

“A win is a win, a loss is a loss,” he said. “We just need a win, period. You’re always one pitch away. So it all worked out.”

This time.

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kevin.baxter@latimes.com