Angels split doubleheader in Boston

BOSTON -- The Angels hung around long enough Saturday night to think they actually had a chance of sweeping a doubleheader from the American League East-leading Boston Red Sox in Fenway Park.

Then David Ortiz crushed a two-run home run deep into the right-field seats in the sixth inning of the second game, and as the Boston slugger stood at the plate admiring his shot — it was estimated at 434 feet — the Angels quickly got into acceptance mode about a split.

Ortiz’s 12th home run capped a three-run rally that helped the Red Sox pull away for a 7-2 victory. The Angels used a four-run seventh inning to break open a one-run game en route to a 9-5 win in the opener.

BOX SCORE: Red Sox 7, Angels 2

“We’re not trying to split, we’re trying to win any game we play,” said Angels second baseman Howie Kendrick, who was five for eight Saturday and is 12 for 16 in his last four games, raising his average to .328. “They just came out and hit well. We allowed them to get a lot of runners on base, and they capitalized.”

Despite a laborious five-inning, four-run, eight-hit, three-walk, 104-pitch start by C.J. Wilson, the Angels were within striking distance in the second game after Josh Hamilton doubled and scored on Mark Trumbo’s flyout to make it 4-2 in the sixth.

But Jose Iglesias led off the bottom of the sixth a single against Jerome Williams, took second on Trumbo’s error, third on Hank Conger’s passed ball and scored on Dustin Pedroia’s single for a 5-2 lead.

BOX SCORE: Angels 9, Red Sox 5

Ortiz then put the game out of reach with his blast, which helped make a winner of Clay Buchholz, who gave up two runs and six hits in 62/3 innings to improve to 9-0 with a 1.71 earned-run average.

“A couple plays didn’t fall into place, but the biggest key was C.J. never got comfortable,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “We were looking up at the wrong end of it from the beginning against a guy who has pitched well all year.”

The Angels took a walk on the wild side of Red Sox reliever Franklin Morales in the first game, using four free passes, two with the bases loaded, to score four seventh-inning runs and break open a 3-2 game.

Mike Trout had three hits and scored twice, and Trumbo and Erick Aybar drove in two runs each, as the Angels extended their winning streak over Boston to nine games — outscoring the Red Sox, 72-37, in that span — dating to May 3, 2011.

The Red Sox made things interesting in the ninth with Mike Carp’s run-scoring single and Stephen Drew’s two-run double against Garrett Richards trimming a 9-2 deficit to 9-5. But Ernesto Frieri, with two on, struck out Jacoby Ellsbury for his 14th save.

“It was a good offensive game for us,” Scioscia said, “and we ended up needing it.”

Trout started the seventh-inning rally with a one-out double. After Hamilton flied out, the left-handed Morales intentionally walked Albert Pujols but remained in to face Trumbo, an odd move considering Trumbo has been far more dangerous than Pujols.

Trumbo hit a run-scoring double to right for a 4-2 lead. Morales walked Kendrick to load the bases and Alberto Callaspo and Chris Iannetta on four pitches to force in two runs. Aybar’s infield single made it 7-2.

The Angels added two insurance runs in the ninth on Andrew Miller’s bases-loaded walk to Trout and an error, the fourth time in franchise history the Angels have scored three runs on bases-loaded walks.

“Their pitchers were missing some spots,” Scioscia said, “and we were disciplined enough to get into some good counts to hit or draw walks.”

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com