Angels get a big lift

No one expects Casey Kotchman to carry the Angels throughout the second half -- starters John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar, relievers Francisco Rodriguez and Scot Shields, and middle-of-the-order hitters Orlando Cabrera, Vladimir Guerrero and Gary Matthews Jr. are supposed to do most of the heavy lifting.

But the young first baseman found himself lugging one sizable 6-foot-3, 225-pound Angel around the infield Friday night, the extra baggage the result of Kotchman’s walk-off, run-scoring single that lifted the Angels to a dramatic 2-1 victory over the Texas Rangers at Angel Stadium.

Kotchman, mired in a three-for-43 slump, grounded a full-count slider from left-hander Ron Mahay through the right side of a drawn-in infield in the ninth inning to score Matthews, and the Angels, who lost eight of 12 games before the All-Star break, pushed their American League West lead over Seattle to three games.

Matthews, who led off the ninth with a double against reliever Joaquin Benoit and took third on Garret Anderson’s grounder to second, went directly from home plate to first and jumped into Kotchman’s arms, much like catcher Bengie Molina leaped into closer Troy Percival’s arms when the Angels clinched the World Series in 2002.

“He was heavy -- he’s a big boy,” Kotchman said of Matthews. “It’s great to get a win in the first game back after the break. We’re in a pennant race. We need as many wins as we can get.”

Kotchman’s evening had been filled with frustration until then. He grounded into a double play to end the second inning, grounded back to the mound with runners on first and third to end the fourth and grounded to first with two on to end the sixth.

In Kotchman’s final at-bat, Manager Mike Scioscia gave him the green light on a 3-and-0 pitch, and Kotchman swung and missed at a breaking ball near the dirt. He looked just as feeble swinging through another low breaking ball for strike two.

Then came the last pitch -- “I’m not even sure what it was,” Kotchman said -- and into right field it went, sending Matthews, whose run-scoring single in the fourth had given the Angels a 1-0 lead, flying into Kotchman’s arms.

“With the 3-0 count, I was a little too aggressive and swung at a couple bad pitches,” Kotchman said. “It ended up better to swing and miss at them rather than cue something off the end of the bat for an easy groundout.”

Though he didn’t get the victory, Escobar was sharp, giving up one run and six hits in eight innings, striking out six and walking one.

Escobar struck out Jerry Hairston with runners on first and third to end the second, and after giving up a leadoff double to Mark Teixeira in the fourth, he got Sammy Sosa to pop to second, Marlon Byrd to fly to right and Frank Catalanotto to line to short, ending the inning.

Texas scored in the fifth when Gerald Laird led off with a double, took third on Hairston’s bunt and came home on Ramon Vazquez’s single to right, but Escobar got out of another jam in the eighth, getting Sosa to fly to right with runners on first and third to end the inning. Rodriguez threw a scoreless ninth to gain the win.

Escobar had to be great -- Rangers starter Kevin Millwood gave up only one run and five hits in seven innings.

“Kelvim was terrific,” Scioscia said. “There wasn’t a pitch I can remember that wasn’t in a good spot. His pitch selection was great, he was aggressive and got some big outs. There were very few mistakes, and that’s not an easy lineup to get through.”

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com