Angels have found their offense since losing Kendry Morales

Reporting from Seattle — 

A perplexing bunch, these Angels hitters. They struggle for the first two months of the season, lose their most productive bat to a freak injury at the end of May, and they take off in June.

The Angels turned a tight game into a walk in the park on Saturday, taking advantage of Seattle’s control problems to score six runs in the sixth inning and four in the seventh en route to an 11-2 romp of the Mariners in Safeco Field.

Ervin Santana won his fifth consecutive start, giving up one run and seven hits in six innings to improve to 6-3 and lower his earned-run average to 3.29.

The Angels (30-28) have now won seven of their last eight games, including six of seven without first baseman Kendry Morales, who broke a bone above his left ankle on May 29 and might be out for the season.

In the seven games without Morales, who was batting .290 with a team-leading 11 home runs and 39 runs batted in, the Angels have hit .296 (74 for 250) with 49 runs, 11 homers and 20 doubles.

They’ve gone 20 for 64 (.313) with runners in scoring position, including Saturday’s 6-for-15 effort, and they’ve drawn 35 walks, including a season-high 10 on Saturday.

“I wish I could figure it out,” said bench coach Ron Roenicke, who filled in Saturday for Manager Mike Scioscia, who was in Southern California for his daughter’s high school graduation.

“Last year, we struggled, Vlad [Guerrero] went down [because of injury] and we took off. Maybe guys are starting to get their timing, maybe they’re getting comfortable, but it’s pretty contagious when we hit. We all go cold, or we all get hot.”

Cleanup batter Torii Hunter had three hits, including a two-run double in the seventh, and three RBIs, and leadoff batter Maicer Izturis, who missed most of May because of a shoulder injury, had two hits, including a two-run single in the sixth, and scored twice.

Howie Kendrick had two hits, two RBIs and two runs, and Bobby Abreu and Juan Rivera each walked three times. Hideki Matsui’s streak of reaching bases in 10 straight plate appearance was snapped in the first inning, but he hit .391 (18 for 46) with three homers and 12 RBIs in his previous 12 games.

“Since Kendry went out, everyone else is trying to step up to another level,” Hunter said. “Me, Bobby, Matsui … [Mike] Napoli has been hitting, Kendrick … and we have Izturis back. That guy gets the offense going. He’s like the Energizer Bunny.”

The game was tied, 1-1, when the Angels sent 12 to the plate in the sixth inning, a rally Hunter sparked with a leadoff double and Mariners reliever Shawn Kelley fueled with four walks, two of them with the bases loaded. Kendrick had a two-run single in the seventh.

Abreu, the plate-discipline guru who leads the team with 32 walks and a .361 on-base percentage, drew walks in the sixth and seventh innings.

“Abreu sets the tone,” Roenicke said. “Look at his at-bats. He lines into more outs than anyone I’ve ever seen, and he still takes pitches and talks to other players about what to look for.

“If you have a whole team of guys like him, you’ll drive the opposing pitcher nuts. He’ll be at 100 pitches in the fourth or fifth inning. If I was going to teach hitting, I would say watch Bobby Abreu.”

The strong start by Santana and the breakout sixth and seventh innings made it a stress-free afternoon for Roenicke, who is now 6-0 as an interim manager in place of Scioscia.

“Mike better watch his job, man,” Hunter said of Scioscia, whose contract, which runs through 2018, gives him more security than any manager in baseball. “Nah … Mike is awesome. I like playing for him. But Rags is awesome, too.”

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com