Angels Regain Scoring Punch

MINNEAPOLIS —  For the first two games of what had been an exasperating series for the Angels, it seemed as if third base coach Ron Roenicke needed to stick a sign in the Metrodome turf bearing a large arrow and a message reading, “This way toward home plate.”

Angel baserunners trotted every which way but home after being erased on double plays and stranded to end innings during two losses in which the Angels had 21 hits -- and only three runs.

The Angels had 15 more hits Thursday afternoon, but they re-familiarized themselves with home plate during an 8-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins.

Garret Anderson had his first four-hit game of the season and Jose Guillen drove in three runs as the Angels broke through with three runs in the third and added four in the fourth.

“What was great was, we had pressure every inning,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “That’s the type of baseball we need to play.”

The much-needed victory pulled the Angels to within three games of the Texas Rangers in the American League West as they head into a 13-game stretch against teams with losing records. The Angels, who trail the Oakland Athletics by 2 1/2 games in the wild-card standings, open a four-game series with the last-place Kansas City Royals tonight at Kauffman Stadium.

Angel starter Aaron Sele did his part Thursday by pitching seven innings for the second time this season. But the veteran right-hander, who improved to 16-4 with a 3.36 earned-run average against the Twins, wanted to talk about reserve catcher Josh Paul after limiting Minnesota to five hits and three runs.

“He should be the story of this game,” Sele said of Paul, who was three for four and scored two runs. “He caught a great ballgame, got three hits. He gets to play once a month, and every time he plays he performs.”

Perhaps the best indicator of how little Paul has played is that he raised his batting average from .250 to .306 on Thursday. With regular catcher Bengie Molina sidelined for at least two weeks because of a broken right index finger, Paul figures to play more.

“I’ll be filling in for him, doing my best,” said Paul, who will split catching duties with Jose Molina. “You can’t really replace a guy like that, a leader on the team. We just hope he gets back and is healthy for the final stretch.”

Sele (7-0) credited Paul with helping him to regain his focus during an outing in which he walked two and struck out one.

“I hit some spots where I was struggling with my command a little bit,” Sele said, “and he called some different pitches trying to get me back in a groove. He just did a wonderful job out there.”

Every Angel position player had at least one hit off Terry Mulholland (3-4), who got into trouble after loading the bases in the third with nobody out. Anderson and Vladimir Guerrero each hit run-scoring singles before Guillen drove in the Angels’ third run with a sacrifice fly.

Guillen’s two-run single in the fourth gave the Angels a 7-0 lead. The left fielder has 84 RBIs, one fewer than Guerrero.

Robb Quinlan’s fourth-inning single extended his career-high hitting streak to 16 games, the longest in club history by a rookie. The utilityman is hitting .448 over that stretch and .333 for the season.

The Angels went four for 13 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight baserunners but gave themselves repeated opportunities for clutch hits by putting runners on in every inning except the second and ninth.

“All you can do is put yourself in a position to get those,” Darin Erstad said. “Sometimes they come, sometimes they don’t. Today we got them.”

Said Scioscia: “I hope we’ve been stuck in the mud long enough and we’re going to be able to bring the consistent offense that we can. You’re not always going to break through and blow a game out, but our offense has been at times running like it should be.”