Let the healing begin

Many times in baseball, it’s the little things that help win games, but Friday night at Angel Stadium, the big and the heavy helped the Angels end a six-game losing streak with an 8-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

Vladimir Guerrero provided the big. Returning to the lineup after missing two games because of a bruised wrist, Guerrero lifted the slumping Angels offense with three hits in five at-bats, including a home run and a double, drove in a run and scored two.

Pitcher Joe Saunders provided the heavy. Saunders, who played at Virginia Tech from 2000 to 2002, pitched with a heavy heart as he paid tribute to the victims of the shootings at his alma mater by wearing a Hokies cap.

Saunders, who received special permission from the commissioner’s office to wear the cap, pitched six scoreless innings. He wasn’t overpowering, giving up seven hits and two walks with only one strikeout, but fate, it seemed, was on his side.

He gave up at least one hit in each inning he pitched and had control problems in the fourth, but he got out of jams in the second, third and fourth innings and left leading, 6-0.

“Definitely I think somebody upstairs was looking out for me tonight and everybody in Virginia and Blacksburg was looking out for me,” said Saunders, who said the cap he wore Friday had been “game worn” at Virginia Tech. “My heart goes out to them and hopefully theirs goes out to me.”

The Mariners rallied late, scoring twice in the eighth and twice in the ninth against Hector Carrasco, who gave way to closer Francisco Rodriguez with one out and runners at first and second in the ninth.

Rodriguez got Jose Vidro to ground into a fielder’s choice, then struck out pinch-hitter Jason Ellison for his fifth save.

But Saunders was the story. He is the only current major league player from Virginia Tech. His father, an architect, still works on campus occasionally. He said several members of his family attended the school.

Even when the Mariners hit Saunders hard the cap seemed to bring good karma. Seattle threatened in the second and third innings, but both times Mariners batters hit line drives that resulted in double plays.

“It was tough,” Saunders said. “I had some problems throwing strikes here and there, but I got through six innings, which is what every pitcher wants when he doesn’t have his best stuff. For me to go out there and get a win for all the Hokies out there and all the lives that got taken out there and for this team, myself and my family, it means a lot.”

With Saunders and the Angels defense holding down the Mariners, Guerrero resumed his position as his Angels’ offensive leader, and boy could they use him.

During the six-game losing streak they had scored only six runs. They were batting .216 over the previous 10 games and .152 with runners in scoring position.

But the Guerrero-led outburst Friday helped put all that to rest. The Angels equaled their season high with 14 hits, and they were five for nine with runners in scoring position.

“I don’t know if there was any explanation for the last eight or nine games,” Manager Mike Scioscia said of the recent slide. “Hopefully it’s behind us.”

Saunders said he hopes something else is behind him, too.

“It’s always going to be in the back of my mind what happened,” he said of the shootings Monday at Virginia Tech, where 33 died. “This closes the tribute. This is the first time I’ve done something like that and hopefully it’ll be the last time I’ll have to do that.”

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peter.yoon@latimes.com