Escobar is a splendid splinterer

CHICAGO —  A sign was taped to the door of the Chicago White Sox’s clubhouse Sunday morning.

“Pack Your Bats!!!” it read.

It was meant as a reminder for the players, who fly today to Seattle. But the White Sox might just as well have shipped the bats ahead of the team for all the good they did against the Angels over the weekend.

That might have saved the club some money too, since right-hander Kelvim Escobar sawed off more than half a dozen bats in hitters’ hands Sunday while pitching the Angels to a 5-2 victory in front of a sun-splashed crowd of 38,513 at U.S. Cellular Field.

“I don’t count [broken] bats,” pitching coach Mike Butcher said with a smile. “I count zeroes.”

In that case he’ll need all of his fingers plus some toes to keep up with his starters, who kept the White Sox off the board in 12 of the final 13 innings of their series in Chicago.

It started with Jered Weaver, who pitched 5 2/3 shutout innings Saturday, then continued with Escobar, who made only one mistake in an impressive 7 2/3 -inning performance that lifted the Angels to their seventh win in nine games.

“Sometimes guys just feed off of each other,” Butcher said. “We’re attacking the [strike] zone a little bit better. If we do that, control the count, we have a chance to go out there and put up a lot of zeroes.”

Escobar (2-1), making his second start since a stint on the disabled list because of an irritated shoulder, had command of all five of his pitches Sunday in holding Chicago to four hits and walking only one.

“The biggest thing was getting ahead in the count,” he said. “If you get ahead in the count you can throw all your pitches with more confidence.”

One pitch that missed its mark was a high changeup to Darin Erstad in the third. The former Angel, who was six for 12 with three runs batted in during the three-game series, didn’t miss it, lining a shot into the right-field stands to give Chicago a 2-0 lead.

It was a short-lived advantage, though, with the Angels flashing some power of their own in their next at-bat when Maicer Izturis and Vladimir Guerrero hit consecutive homers against Mark Buehrle (2-1) to tie the score. An inning later they turned to speed to go in front on Orlando Cabrera’s ground single and stolen base and Izturis’ run-scoring single.

And that proved to be enough offense since Escobar and Francisco Rodriguez held Chicago to two singles the rest of the way.

“The last couple of games we did the things we need to do,” Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said. “We pitched very well. On the offensive side, although we didn’t really pound the ball, we pressured them every inning. That’s what’s going to be important the whole way out, to bring our game out on the field.”

Escobar, of course, will be a big part of that. And he says he’s up to the challenge.

“I feel good,” he said. “We won the series and we move on. We’re getting there. I have a lot of confidence that I’m going to have a big year.”

Which can’t be comforting news to opposing managers such as Chicago’s Ozzie Guillen, who agreed that bats aren’t of much use against the Angels when their starters are on.

“The Angels have a good pitching staff,” Guillen said. “But I don’t see anyone swinging the bat the way they should be swinging the bat.”

kevin.baxter@latimes.com