Albert Pujols tries to help Angels one careful step at a time

SEATTLE — Albert Pujols, who sat out four games Aug. 23-26 because of a right calf injury, insists he is “fine,” and there is little in his swing that would indicate otherwise.

The slugger has started six consecutive games at designated hitter, going nine for 24 with a home run, three doubles, six runs batted in and five runs. He’s batting .382 (21 for 55) with five home runs and 15 RBIs in his last 15 games and .288 with 29 home runs and 92 RBIs this season.

But anyone who has seen Pujols gingerly navigate his way around the bases the last week can tell he is not 100%. With the Angels in a must-win situation virtually every day, though, they can ill afford to sit their No. 3 hitter for five days to give his calf time to heal.

So, this might be as good as it gets in September for Pujols, who will be relegated to DH for now and will be something of a liability on the bases, where he seems to run just fast enough to get to where he needs to go.

“Albert feels he can do what he’s doing now, and it would probably take longer than four or five days to totally heal to where he’s 100%,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “He feels comfortable hitting, but obviously running is a different issue.”

Pujols is a Gold Glove-caliber first baseman, but he is not feeling pressured to return to the field.

“I’m playing,” Pujols said, “It’s better than being on the bench, I can tell you that. Am I 100%? Of course not. But I don’t think anyone here is 100% right now. Everybody has soreness. You have to continue to fight. As long as I’m in the lineup, what else is there to worry about?”

Well, there is that little matter of not being able to run at regular speed.

“I’m going at my pace,” Pujols said. “I haven’t tried to push it yet. I’m concentrating on putting a good swing on the ball. I don’t want an injury to affect the way I play.”

Pujols averaged 155 games per season in 11 years in St. Louis, where he could only DH in interleague play, so he’s used to playing injured.

“He’s running with a governor on,” Scioscia said. “I don’t think you’re going to see him striding it out at 100%. This is something he’s done before. There’s no way he could play as much as he did in the National League without playing nicked up.”

Tough luck

The Angels had Erick Aybar on third base with no outs in the third inning Sunday and failed to score. Maicer Izturis ripped a grounder that third baseman Kyle Seager made a diving stop of, and the ball was hit so hard Aybar didn’t have time to scramble back to the bag. He was tagged out in a rundown.

“We didn’t catch a break on that ball Izzy hit,” Scioscia said. “You just can’t thread a ball any closer to third.”

Short hops

Torii Hunter, who was 13 for 17 in the previous four games, was hitless in four at-bats, as was leadoff batter Mike Trout. … Left-hander Nick Maronde made his big league debut and struck out the only batter he faced, Carlos Peguero, on three pitches in the sixth inning.

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com