Bengie Molina is quick to pick up Rangers

Reporting from Arlington, Texas — 

Five years after the Angels went younger, cheaper and faster with their starting catcher, Bengie Molina has returned to the American League West to help the Texas Rangers try to lap his former team.

And, in an ironic twist, the Rangers’ pursuit of their first division title since 1999 picked up speed this month when Molina pulled into third base with a standup eighth-inning triple against the Boston Red Sox, completing perhaps the most unlikely cycle in baseball history.

“I’ve been criticized so long about my speed, that I can’t run and I’m the slowest guy,” Molina said Friday before Rangers beat the Angels, 1-0, at Rangers Ballpark. “So for me to do it, having all these prospects and all these five-tool players out there and just a few guys can do it … it’s pretty amazing.”

That would also be one way to describe the impact the former Angel has had on the Rangers since he was acquired July 1 in a trade with the San Francisco Giants. Molina was named AL player of the week Monday after becoming the first catcher to have a grand slam as part of a cycle, and he drove in the decisive run against the Angels on Thursday with a sixth-inning sacrifice fly.

“To be able to pick up a guy like Bengie in the middle of the season basically with our payroll being nothing,” Texas second baseman Ian Kinsler said, “I thought it was a good move.”

It was an acquisition that was probably far off the Rangers’ radar when they opened the season with highly touted prospect Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Taylor Teagarden on their roster. But Saltalamacchia was injured in the season’s first week and hasn’t returned, and Teagarden eventually was sent to the minor leagues.

Matt Treanor, who gave Texas some stability at the position before Molina arrived, might be headed for the DL after he sprained his right knee Friday when he tripped over Angels first baseman Kevin Frandsen’s foot. That could make Molina, who is hitting .244 with two home runs and seven runs batted in in 15 games with the Rangers, even more indispensible.

Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said Molina is “a special player, a special catcher and he’s going to bring so much more than what any stats are going to show, from his influence on the pitchers to his clutch hitting.”

Angels reliever Scot Shields said it was “tough” to see Molina join the Rangers, if only because he knows firsthand the kind of player his division rival was adding for its playoff push.

“He’s not just clutch, he’s a good hitter, period,” said Shields, one of Molina’s teammates from the Angels’ 2002 World Series championship team. “The way he calls a game and holds runners because everyone knows he has a good arm … it was a great pickup.”

Although the Angels’ roster has undergone a nearly complete overhaul since Molina departed after the 2005 season, the two-time Gold Glove winner said he still keeps in touch with bullpen coach Orlando Mercado, bullpen catcher Steve Soliz and Frandsen, a former teammate with the Giants.

“It’s kind of weird just to see them on the other side,” Molina said. “But you get used to it.”

ben.bolch@latimes.com