Scioscia goes to bat for Figgins

Angels Manager Mike Scioscia asked the Kauffman Stadium official scorer after the Angels’ 2-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night to reconsider an eighth-inning decision to rule Chone Figgins’ one-hop smash off second baseman Willie Bloomquist’s glove an error.

But Scioscia will not appeal the call to the commissioner’s office, which has a five-person scoring committee that can overrule a scorer’s decision as it did in May, when what was originally ruled a Howie Kendrick inside-the-park home run against the Royals was changed to a four-base error on right fielder Jose Guillen.

“That was a travesty, but it’s their discretion, and we’ll live with it,” Scioscia said of Saturday night’s call on Figgins. “I know we can appeal it, but we won the game, and we’ll move on.”

Scioscia wouldn’t say on the record what he thought the motivation for the call was, but it was pretty obvious to everyone in the stadium what forces were at work.

Kansas City ace Zack Greinke, one of the few bright spots for the Royals and the front-runner for the American League Cy Young Award, was throwing a shutout when Figgins led off the eighth with his smash to Bloomquist.

When Figgins eventually scored, it was ruled an unearned run. Greinke left with an AL-leading 2.22 earned-run average instead of the 2.32 ERA he would have had if Figgins’ run had been earned.

Asked after the game what he thought of the error, Scioscia said, “What error? That ball was smoked, and it took an in-between hop. If he made that play, it would have been a highlight.”

A day later, the scoring decision remained.

“If Greinke is going to win the ERA title, I’m sure he’d want to win it without any bias,” Scioscia said. “And we’re going to leave it at that.”

Guerrero on break

Vladimir Guerrero, who started 31 of the Angels’ 32 games at designated hitter since he was activated off the disabled list Aug. 4, was given Sunday off, but not because of health issues.

Since hitting a pair of two-run homers in Monday night’s win in Seattle, Guerrero has one hit in 17 at-bats in four games, though that one hit was a two-run, eighth-inning single that lifted the Angels to a 2-1 win over the Royals on Friday night.

“He’s been searching for some stuff,” Scioscia said. “We’ll give him a day to freshen up, and he’ll be back in there [today].”

Short hops

Erick Aybar tripled to center field in the first inning Sunday and hit an RBI triple to right-center field in the second, tying a franchise record that has been achieved 17 times. The last Angel to triple twice in a game was Reggie Williams against the Texas Rangers on June 30, 1999. . . . The Angels are 23-5 in their last 28 games in Kauffman Stadium dating to 2003.

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com