Rangers rough up Angels again, 15-9

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Angels thrived offensively in four nights of Bikram Baseball at the Ballpark in Arlington, where game-time temperatures ranged from 102 to 105 degrees and their bats sizzled with the weather.

The Angels hit .312 (48 for 154) with 40 runs against the Texas Rangers, clubbing 13 homers — a franchise record for a four-game road series — and 10 doubles and going 13 for 35 (.371) with runners in scoring position.

And all they had to show for it were some lousy sweat-drenched T-shirts, a split of the series and the same five-game American League West deficit they came with.

The Rangers throttled the Angels, 15-9, Thursday night, rocking Angels starter C.J. Wilson for eight runs and 10 hits in 51/3 innings and beating up on a beleaguered bullpen with four runs in the seventh, capped by Josh Hamilton’s two-out, two-run double, to break an 8-8 tie.

Adding a final touch of indignity, shortstop Maicer Izturis let Michael Young’s potential double-play grounder go through his legs for an error and right fielder Torii Hunter overran Mitch

Moreland’s wind-altered fly ball that dropped for a double during the Rangers’ three-run eighth.

A series that began with such promise for the Angels — they won the first two games, 15-8 and 6-2, to move to within three games of the Rangers and had a 7-1 lead in the fourth inning Wednesday — ended in a flurry of Rangers hits and runs and some awful Angels pitching.

“It is deflating, but these couple of games won’t define our whole season,” outfielder Mark Trumbo said. “It would have been nice to take the series, to sweep, but there were a ton of positives. We made a pretty good impression.”

Not on the mound.

Wilson, the former Rangers ace, matched a career-high for earned runs given up in a game. The left-hander gave up a leadoff homer to Ian Kinsler in the first and five runs in a 36-pitch second that featured two-run singles by Hamilton and Young.

Wilson (9-7) has gone seven starts without a victory since June 26 and he has been tagged for 27 runs in three starts in Texas this season.

“They had that one big inning, and it cost me,” Wilson said. “I gave up a bunch of singles and couldn’t stop the bleeding.”

The Angels rallied from a 6-2 deficit with Albert Pujols’ run-scoring double in the third and four runs in the fourth against starter Ryan Dempster, an inning that featured Kendrys Morales’ solo homer and Hunter’s two-run single.

It was 8-8 in the sixth when Angels right-hander LaTroy Hawkins struck out Adrian Beltre and got Nelson Cruz to ground out with a runner on third to end the inning, but that was the last effective relief the Angels would get.

David Carpenter, Jerome Williams and Hisanori Takahashi combined to give up seven runs and eight hits in two innings. Texas scored 21 runs in the last 11 innings of the series, including 13 in 61/3 innings against the Angels’ bullpen.

The usually mild-mannered Takahashi even threw a bit of a tantrum in the bullpen when he wasn’t summoned to face the pinch-hitting Moreland in the seventh. Carpenter, a right-hander, gave up singles to left-handers Moreland and David Murphy.

Scioscia said he stuck with Carpenter because he knew the Rangers would summon right-handed slugger Mike Napoli to face Takahashi.

The clubhouse remained closed for about 25 minutes after the game, during which Scioscia and Takahashi met, but Scioscia said, “Anything that happened out there is not an issue.”

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com

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