Matthews helps Angels win 3rd straight game, 7-4

It didn't matter that Matthews had two hits in his previous 24 at-bats, that he tied a franchise record by hitting into three double plays Saturday night in Seattle, and that there was only one out, with the dangerous Vladimir Guerrero on deck.

The Angels manager instructed Matthews to swing away, and swing Matthews did, driving a double into the left-center field gap to snap a tie and propel the Angels toward a 7-4 victory over Texas at Rangers Ballpark.

With the score tied, 4-4, Maicer Izturis led off the top of the sixth with a walk off reliever Josh Rupe. Jeff Mathis bunted Izturis to second, and Erick Aybar singled so sharply to center that Izturis was held at third.

But center fielder Josh Hamilton overthrew the cutoff man, enabling Aybar to take second. Chone Figgins was walked intentionally to load the bases, and that move backfired when Matthews came through with his clutch hit that made it 7-4.

Darren Oliver, Justin Speier, Scot Shields and Francisco Rodriguez combined for five scoreless innings in relief of wobbly starter Dustin Moseley, the best performance of the season for an Angels bullpen that entered with a 6.49 earned run average, second worst in major leagues.

Moseley was completely ineffective, allowing four runs and seven hits and walking five in four innings, putting his team in a 4-0 hole after the Rangers scored once in the first, twice in the second and once in the third.

But his teammates took Moseley off the hook with a three-run fourth and another run in the fifth to tie the score, 4-4.

Garret Anderson singled to open the fourth, and after Torii Hunter grounded out, Casey Kotchman, with most of his weight on his front foot, hit Kevin Millwood's slow breaking ball over the wall in right-center field for a two-run home run, his fourth of the season.

Mathis, Aybar and Figgins strung together two-out singles for another run, but the rally ended when Aybar was thrown out attempting to steal third.

Guerrero laced a one-out double to left in the fifth and scored on Anderson's double down the right-field line for a 4-4 tie.

Oliver, the left-hander who entered with a 5.68 earned run average, replaced Moseley with one on in the fifth and threw 2 2/3 scoreless innings for the Angels.

But he and the Angels caught a huge break when a baserunning gaffe by the Rangers helped thwart a rally in the bottom of the seventh.

Pinch-hitter Marlon Byrd was hit by a pitch with one out, and David Murphy laced a ball into the gap in right-center. Third-base coach Matt Walbeck waved Byrd home, and Murphy never slowed around second, but Byrd inexplicably stopped at third.

Hunter, the Angels center fielder, threw the ball back to the infield, and Murphy was tagged out after a brief rundown. Speier replaced Oliver and got Adam Melhuse to pop to second, ending the inning.

Shields added a one-two-three eighth, and Rodriguez got his fifth save despite walking two in the ninth, as the Angels won their third straight after losing the first two games of the trip in Seattle.

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com