Angels’ Tyler Chatwood foils Dodgers, 6-1

The so-called Four Corners Trip has been a two-week joyride for the Angels.

The baseball equivalent of the four-corners offense continues to be a season-long struggle for the Dodgers.

The Dodgers’ offense stalled again Saturday at Dodger Stadium during a 6-1 loss to the Angels, moving the ball around without much purpose during a third consecutive defeat.

Of course, it’s hard to muster much of an attack when your offensive sparkplug is out for half the game.

Center fielder Matt Kemp was ejected in the bottom of the fifth inning after arguing a borderline called third strike from the dugout. That left the Dodgers with a lineup that included only two players who had hit home runs this season.

“You can’t invent it,” Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said of piecing together a potent batting order with the remnants of his injury-plagued team.

The most success enjoyed by someone in the home team’s garb came before the sixth inning when a male fan wearing a Dodgers hat and T-shirt proposed to a woman in an Angels hat. She said yes, in a scene played out on the video scoreboard.

Otherwise, all the highlights belonged to the visitors.

Tyler Chatwood (5-4) pitched seven sublime innings, giving up four hits and one run, and Vernon Wells hit a three-run home run as part of a four-run eighth inning to help the Angels log their fifth victory in their last six games.

“We’re starting to realize what we’re capable of doing if we come together and play as one unit,” Wells said.

The Angels improved to 8-3 on a season-long 12-game, 14-day trip in which they won the first three series in far-flung locales Seattle, New York and Miami before returning to the Southland. They will go for a sweep of the Dodgers on Sunday, with Jered Weaver facing Dodgers counterpart Clayton Kershaw in a battle of aces.

The Angels held all the cards on offense Saturday. Chatwood sparked a third-inning rally with a two-out single against starter Hiroki Kuroda, who then yielded a triple to Erick Aybar that accounted for the game’s first run. Mark Trumbo doubled the Angels’ lead in the fourth inning with a two-out home run.

The only glimmer of offense for the Dodgers came immediately after Kemp was ejected. James Loney singled and advanced to third base when right fielder Bobby Abreu mishandled Aaron Miles’ single. Trent Oeltjen walked to load the bases and A.J. Ellis walked to force in a run.

Rather than let the .063-hitting Kuroda bat for himself, Mattingly elected to have Casey Blake pinch-hit.

“We’re going to take a chance to break something open there,” Mattingly said.

Instead, Blake hit into an inning-ending double play. Second baseman Howie Kendrick made a leaping grab of Blake’s line drive and whirled to throw to first baseman Trumbo, doubling up Ellis.

“We’re doing things we need to do on the field, that’s for sure, but we need to get better,” said Manager Mike Scioscia, whose team moved back to .500 and closed to within two games of Texas in the American League West. “We’re not hitting on all cylinders.”

The Dodgers would probably settle for getting their engine to turn over after falling 10 games under .500 for the second time this season.

“No one has given up yet,” Kuroda said through an interpreter, “but at the same time, this is my fourth year with this organization and we have never experienced this type of situation.”

ben.bolch@latimes.com