NO SWEEPING SUCCESS ESCOBAR, ANGELS ROUTED BY TEXAS TEXAS 11, ANGELS 3.

Byline: BEN VILLA Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - Maybe the Angels should have started Hector Carrasco after all.

After debating whether he would be able to start Wednesday against the Texas Rangers because of a split fingernail on his middle finger of his pitching hand, Kelvim Escobar struggled in his second start of the season.

Escobar wound up going 4 1/3 innings, allowing eight hits and eight runs - four of which were earned - in a 11-3 loss in front of 42,911 at Angel Stadium.

In the process, the Rangers snapped their eight-game losing streak to the Angels and their nine-game losing streak at Angel Stadium.

To make matters worse for the Angels on Wednesday night, Vladimir Guerrero left the game in the bottom of the fifth inning.

It appeared Guerrero was injured after he fouled a pitch off his foot against Rangers starter John Koronka. He walked slowly back to the batters 3/8 box after that and then proceeded to strike out swinging on a pitch in the dirt.

As he walked back to the dugout, Angels manager Mike Scioscia met Guerrero on the field, and replaced him in right in the top of the sixth inning with Juan Rivera.

However, the Angels announced moments later that he was taken out of the game because he was suffering from stomach flu. In the fourth inning however, he managed a single to extend his hit streak against the Rangers to 39 games.

The Rangers jumped on Escobar in the top of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead on a RBI single by Phil Nevin. The Angels tied the score in the third on a triple by Chone Figgins and an RBI groundout by Orlando Cabrera.

But in the top of the fourth inning, the Rangers broke the game open.

Escobar had appeared to strike out Mark Teixeira on the outside corner on a 1-2 pitch, but he didn't get the call from home-plate umpire Tim Welke. Teixeira then sent Escobar's next pitch deep into the right-field stands to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead.

Hank Blalock then reached on an error with one out, D'Angelo Jimenez walked and Brad Wilkerson singled to load the bases.

Gerald Laird then drove in a run on an infield single to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead, but it appeared Escobar was going to get out of the inning without any more damage done when he struck out Laynce Nix for the second out.

But Gary Matthews Jr. stepped up and promptly hit a three-run triple into the left-center gap to give the Rangers a 6-1 lead.

The Angels had a chance to get back in the game in their half of the fourth inning when they loaded the bases with nobody out, but Robb Quinlan appeared to swing at ball four and could only manage a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Guerrero from third.

Jeff Mathis then popped up to second base and Adam Kennedy grounded out weakly to third to end the inning.

Carrasco, who would have started if Escobar were unable to, relieved him with one out in the fourth, but he wasn't much better. The Rangers tacked on two more runs against him in the fifth and another in the sixth on a RBI double by Nix.

Carrasco wound up going 3 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on four hits.

A more disturbing fact is that Angels pitchers don't seem to be clicking with Mathis behind the plate.

In the past two games Mathis has started, Angels pitchers have given up a combined 21 runs. By comparison, in Jose Molina's last two games, they gave up only six.

One bright spot that did come out of Wednesday' game was the play of Tim Salmon. He had been slumping at the plate but managed two singles and walk to raise his batting average to .294.

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2 photos

Photo:

(1) Angels starter Kelvim Escobar wound up going 4 1/3 innings, allowing eight hits and eight runs - four of which were earned.

(2) The Rangers' Gerald Laird celebrates his solo homer during the eighth inning Wednesday.

Chris Carlson/Associated Press