Angels’ Russell Branyan could be called on in a pinch

Russell Branyan has an easy assignment this weekend. All the veteran will have to do, if called upon, is deliver a huge pinch-hit late in the game against one of the New York Yankees’ top relievers, probably Mariano Rivera, the best closer in baseball history.

Piece of cake, right? After all, that’s exactly what Branyan did Aug. 11 at Yankee Stadium, when he crushed a first pitch from Rivera for a three-run homer in the ninth inning, putting a scare into the home crowd during a 6-5 Angels loss.

“I guess you can say I ambushed him,” Branyan said of his first homer off Rivera, who entered Friday night with 598 career saves, three shy of all-time leader Trevor Hoffman, who had 601 saves.

“I got a pitch I could handle and caught him on a bad day. But I don’t expect that to happen again. If you start expecting things in this game, you’re going to be sitting on the front porch back home.”

Branyan, 35, takes a similar tack to his extremely limited role. Though he has four homers (two were pinch-hits) in just 62 at-bats — an impressive ratio of one every 15.5 at-bats — Branyan has started only once since July 24.

Signed on May 26 as a possible platoon player at first base, the left-handed-hitting Branyan has been unable to pry at-bats from rookie first baseman Mark Trumbo, who leads the team with 26 homers and 80 runs batted in and is hitting right-handers (.262) better than lefties (.245).

The designated hitter spot hasn’t been available either, with Manager Mike Scioscia rotating Bobby Abreu, Torii Hunter and sometimes Vernon Wells through the position.

“I have a bench role, and that’s very well defined — I’m fine with it,” said Branyan, who has 194 homers in 2,931 career at-bats, a ratio of one every 15.1 at-bats.

“I’m not going to put up a fight or make a big deal out of not playing, because we have a good group of starters going out there every night. There’s no bucking the system.”

Notable omissions

The Angels are 19-4 in games 20-year-old outfielder Mike Trout has started this season. Infielder Maicer Izturis has multihit games in six of his last nine starts and hit a game-winning, two-run, eighth-inning double in Wednesday night’s 3-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins.

Neither was in the lineup Friday night.

Scioscia started Alberto Callaspo over Izturis because the third baseman had four hits, including a homer, in eight career at-bats against Yankees right-hander Bartolo Colon.

Izturis, a switch-hitter, is batting .259 against right-handers. He’s hitting .315 against left-handers, and Scioscia said he will start against Yankees lefty CC Sabathia on Saturday night.

Trout’s absence wasn’t as eyebrow-raising. Since he was recalled from double-A Arkansas for the second time on Aug. 19, Trout has made seven of his 11 starts against left-handers.

Trout was also 0 for 12 since his three-hit game against Minnesota last Saturday, his average falling from .267 to .230. He’s had trouble getting his arms extended against a steady diet of inside fastballs.

“Like any young hitter who comes up, it doesn’t take long for scouts and teams to make adjustments against him; that’s going to happen,” Scioscia said. “Mike will start to understand what pitchers are doing a little bit, and hopefully he’ll make some adjustments.”

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com