Santana has another fine homecoming

Home must be where Ervin Santana’s heart is, because the right-hander sure seems to pitch with more courage and confidence and aggressiveness in Angel Stadium than he does on the road.

Santana, whose extreme home-road splits have so perplexed the Angels they considered demoting him to triple A, muffled the hottest-hitting team in baseball, and the Angels got a clutch two-run home run from a rare power source -- designated hitter Shea Hillenbrand -- in a 4-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night.

Santana (4-6) gave up one run and four hits in seven innings, striking out four and walking two, to improve to 4-1 with a 2.12 earned-run average at home this season and 23-6 with a 2.95 ERA overall. On the road, Santana is 0-5 with a 9.30 ERA this season and 9-16 with a 6.98 ERA overall.

“It’s still not a huge sample size, but those numbers are pretty heavy,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “It’s not that he hasn’t pitched well on the road, but his consistency hasn’t been there. Whether he’s on the road or home, he needs to bottle this game and bring it everywhere.”

The Mariners had averaged 10 runs in their previous five games, hitting .368 with 28 extra-base hits during the stretch, but after scoring one run on two hits in the first inning, they were silenced by Santana, who gave up two singles over the next six innings. Scot Shields worked the eighth inning and Francisco Rodriguez the ninth for his 17th save.

Santana, who was rocked for eight runs in 3 2/3 innings of Thursday’s 12-0 loss in Detroit, flirted with disaster in the first inning, giving up singles to Ichiro Suzuki and Jose Vidro, a run-scoring fielder’s choice to Jose Guillen and walking Raul Ibanez and Richie Sexson to load the bases.

On Santana’s 26th pitch, Kenji Johjima hit a hard grounder to second baseman Howie Kendrick, who flipped to shortstop Orlando Cabrera to start a double play.

“That was huge, just what Ervin needed,” Scioscia said. “He settled down after that....He wasn’t sharp early.”

Santana retired the side on seven pitches in the second inning. He changed speeds, threw inside effectively, striking out Adrian Beltre looking with a fastball in the seventh, and backed a few guys off the plate.

“It was good to see him go out there with confidence -- he was really poised,” center fielder Gary Matthews Jr. said. “He had a tough time his last time out, but it’s the mark of a good pitcher to come home after a bad start and handle business.”

The Angels tied the score in the first inning on Cabrera’s double and Robb Quinlan’s two-out run-scoring single against 21-year-old left-hander Ryan Feierabend.

Quinlan led off the fourth with a fly to center field that Suzuki lost in the twilight, the ball dropping for a double. Two outs later, Hillenbrand lofted a high fly that barely cleared the wall inside the left-field foul pole for a two-run home run, his third of the season, and a 3-1 lead.

The Angels scored in the fifth when Reggie Willits and Cabrera singled, Willits took third base on Vladimir Guerrero’s fly to center field and scored on Matthews’ groundout.

Santana, who has quality starts -- six innings or more, three earned runs or less -- in his five home starts this season, made that lead stand up, and the gap between his home and road statistics grew even wider.

“I don’t know,” Santana said, when asked why his home and road results are so different. “Maybe it’s because you guys are always talking about that. I think the one day you don’t talk about that, I’ll start winning some games on the road.”

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com