ANGELS RESTORE POWER GLAUS BELTS HIS FIRST HOMER SINCE RETURN ANGELS 10, CLEVELAND 5.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

CLEVELAND - Relief came in various forms for the Angels on Friday night, from everywhere except the out-of-town scoreboard.

It came when Bengie Molina reversed an early-game pattern of missed opportunities by cracking a two-out, three-run home run to break a scoreless tie in the fourth inning.

It came when Troy Glaus hit his first post-shoulder-surgery homer, a solo shot in the sixth inning that showed a glimpse of how potent this lineup was before he disappeared for 97 games.

And mostly, it came from not being in Boston, where the Angels suffered a playoff-jeopardizing sweep this week. They regrouped at Jacobs Field to produce a 10-5 victory over the Cleveland Indians.

Kelvim Escobar (9-9) took a shutout into the sixth inning, and the Angels (76-58) won for the sixth time in his past seven starts, a win that cosmetically didn't accomplish much.

Oakland won for the 10th time in 11 games to maintain its four-game lead in the American League West. Boston won its 10th in a row for the 16th time in 17 games to hold its 4 1/2-game lead in the wild-card race.

But the Angels know they still have six games head-to-head with the Athletics later this month. By keeping their deficit below five games with 28 to play, their task remains difficult but not totally improbable.

``The team we're chasing, we play six more times,'' noted Glaus, who smacked the Angels' third homer off Cleveland starter Scott Elarton. ``Is it unmanageable? No. This is a stretch where we need to play well and give us that opportunity those last 10 games to beat the team we're chasing.''

Glaus needed just five games after returning to the lineup to leave the yard and, ensconced in the sixth spot, he gives the club the potency it possessed earlier in the season.

``It's a great, great confidence we get when we see him in the lineup,'' Molina said. ``It's a great feeling.''

The Angels also get a great feeling when Molina comes up in clutch situations. He hits .316 with runners in scoring position, and now, seven of his 10 home runs have either tied the game or given the Angels the lead.

Friday's was particularly timely.

After getting run out of Boston - ``They kicked our butts, man,'' Molina said - the Angels opened this series by putting two runners on in two of the first three innings.

And they had nothing to show for it after Vladimir Guerrero hit into a double play and then stranded two runners by flying out to left in the third.

The pattern appeared to continue in the fourth. Garret Anderson and Jose Guillen hit singles, but Glaus and Adam Kennedy flew out against Elarton, who two-hit the Chicago White Sox in his previous start.

But Molina ripped a changeup over the wall in left for a 3-0 lead. A weight seemed to lift.

``It's a big hit to not just get one, but get three, with two outs, when it looked like (Elarton) might squirm out of the inning,'' manager Mike Scioscia said. ``They're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and Bengie closed it up.''

Anderson ripped a two-run homer of his own an inning later and Glaus followed suit in the sixth, his first homer since May 11, giving Escobar a 6-0 lead.

``It's always great,'' Escobar said of the support, which has been lacking often for him this season. ``I love Bengie, and it seems like he always gets the big hit for the team.''

Escobar walked four and struck out just two but used a sinking fastball to induce double-play balls out of the Indians (67-69) in the first two innings. The same lineup that scored 22 runs in Yankee Stadium earlier this week was held scoreless until Travis Hafner's two-run shot off Escobar in the sixth.

Gabe Lacques, [phone]

gabe.lacques(at)sgvn.com

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Garret Anderson hits one of the Angels' three home runs in Friday's 10-5 victory over the Indians at Jacobs Field.

Mark Duncan/Associated Press

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