Angels let one get away against the Yankees

After racing in the shadows for much of the season, the Angels now find themselves in the spotlight during their American League West pennant race with the Texas Rangers.

But Sunday, when the glare was upon them with a chance to sweep the New York Yankees, they blinked.

Angels outfielder Peter Bourjos dropped a fly ball in the seventh inning when he lost track of it in the sun, allowing the Yankees to take the lead that Mariano Rivera held on to with his 599th save, giving the Yankees a 6-5 win at Angel Stadium.

The Angels are 21/2 games behind Texas in the AL West with 16 games remaining, the next 10 of which are on the road, starting Monday with a three-game series in Oakland.

“It’s a play I’ve got to make,” Bourjos said. “It was a turning point in the game, and we lost the game right there.”

Angels Manager Mike Scioscia wasn’t too hard on the 24-year-old, who has been an excellent outfielder for the Angels this season but missed that ball and overran one in the fourth that Eric Chavez turned into a double.

“This is not an easy outfield with the wind and the sun, and that ball was flying today,” Scioscia said.

Flying indeed. There were four home runs, two by each team.

The Angels’ blasts were each two-run shots, one by Howie Kendrick in the first and the other by Bourjos in the fourth, which put the Angels ahead, 5-2.

Curtis Granderson pulled the Yankees to within one with his own two-run shot in the fifth, and in the seventh they had two runners on with one out when Mark Teixeira hit the ball to the warning track in right field that Bourjos would eventually drop, allowing two runs to score.

“Nobody is perfect,” said Angels starter Ervin Santana (11-11), who gave up four runs and eight hits in six-plus innings. “He’s made great plays before. It’s part of the game.”

Had the Angels not batted 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position, including 0 for 2 with the bases loaded, Bourjos wouldn’t be to blame.

“We shot ourselves in the foot all day on the offensive side,” Scioscia said.

Entering the game, the team had been batting .369 (62 for 168) with runners in scoring position since Aug. 18.

Shortstop Erick Aybar played well, batting four for five, but the Yankees still avoided the sweep.

Freddy Garcia threw five innings and gave up five runs for the Yankees before being replaced by Cory Wade (5-0), who pitched a scoreless sixth.

At times, the ballpark seemed more like the Bronx than Anaheim.

“Let’s go, Yankees” chants broke out after every Yankees hit, home run and strikeout by one of their pitchers.

Mini American flags were distributed to the 42,581 in attendance in honor of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and a somber montage of those events was played on the video screen before the game.

baxter.holmes@latimes.com

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