Angels starter Joel Pineiro is looking like an All-Star

The All-Star ballot will be unveiled Tuesday at a news conference at Angel Stadium. Torii Hunter will be on the ballot, and so will Hideki Matsui, Bobby Abreu and Kendry Morales.

At this rate, the player most likely to represent the Angels won’t be on that ballot.

He is Joel Pineiro, who recorded all but the final five outs of the Angels’ 2-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Monday. As the Angels won their fourth consecutive game and climbed back to .500, Pineiro lowered his earned-run average to 1.77.

However, the Angels left their stadium braced for the possibility of bad news on Tuesday. Catcher Jeff Mathis, who had a key double to extend his hitting streak to 10 games and whose .500 slugging percentage trails only Matsui and Hunter, could have a broken bone in his right hand.

In the eighth inning, a wayward pitch from reliever Kevin Jepsen caromed from the dirt up into Mathis’ hand. Mathis finished the game, but he reported enough soreness that the Angels plan to send him for X-rays on Tuesday.

“Hopefully, it’s just a bruise,” Manager Mike Scioscia said.

If not for the All-Star news conference, it would be terribly early to talk about the All-Star rosters. After all, Pineiro has all of three starts this year.

He has excelled every time. His first two starts came against the two highest-scoring teams in the American League before Monday, the Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees. His third start came against a Tigers team that bats Johnny Damon, Magglio Ordonez and Miguel Cabrera consecutively.

Pineiro has pitched in 21 innings this season and has been scored upon in two. He extended his streak of consecutive innings without a walk to 15 1/3.

An All-Star appearance would be a particular thrill for Pineiro, and not just because he would be pitching in his home ballpark. Pineiro made his major league debut in 2000. He is pitching for his fourth team in five years, and he never has been in an All-Star game.

“It would be amazing,” he said, standing next to the folding chair with the All-Star logo that graces every locker. “It’s just so far ahead right now.”

Pineiro was 15-12 with a 3.49 ERA for the St. Louis Cardinals last season, pitching a career-high 214 innings. He was 31, raising the question of whether he could succeed outside the tutelage of St. Louis pitching guru Dave Duncan.

He sat on the free-agent market until the Angels grabbed him, three weeks before the start of spring training.

“I don’t think anyone feels last year was a fluke,” Scioscia said. “You can see a guy developing into a pitcher he wasn’t seven or eight years ago.”

He also fields his position well. He deflected one ball to shortstop Erick Aybar, snatched a line drive to start a double play and nearly made a kick save trying to redirect another ground ball.

Did he play soccer growing up in Puerto Rico?

“Never,” he said.

Or hockey?

“We got no ice rinks there,” he said.

bill.shaikin@latimes.com