Angels go long to beat Red Sox, 6-4

BOSTON -- Maybe there is something to this big bang theory, the one stating that for the Angels to compete with the beasts of the American League, they had to add some serious power.

The Angels thrived for years on their get ‘em on, get ‘em over, get ‘em in approach, winning three of four division titles and reaching the AL Championship Series in 2005, but as they are discovering this season, the long ball can take you a long way.

Gary Matthews Jr. clubbed two solo home runs, one that cleared the bleachers above the Green Monster in Fenway Park, and Casey Kotchman added a tiebreaking solo shot in the sixth to lead the Angels to a 6-4 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night.

Jon Garland wiggled out of several jams to pitch six solid innings, and Justin Speier, Scot Shields and Francisco Rodriguez combined for three shutout innings to preserve the Angels’ 15th win in their last 40 games in Fenway, dating back to 2000.

“The biggest difference is the younger guys have another year of experience, they have a better idea of what they can do,” said Matthews, who hit both homers from the right side, giving him 100 career homers.

“It makes them more comfortable. As they gain experience, they get to know the league and the pitchers better, especially guys like Kotch and our two catchers. It’s kind of contagious. It’s created a competitive atmosphere. They drive each other.”

And they drive the ball. Kotchman, who hit 11 homers last season, leads the team with six home runs. Catchers Mike Napoli (four) and Jeff Mathis (three) have combined for seven homers. Matthews and Torii Hunter, who had four hits and an RBI on Wednesday night, have four homers each.

Though slugger Vladimir Guerrero and cleanup batter Garret Anderson have two homers each, the Angels rank second in the AL with 25 homers, trailing the Chicago White Sox (28). The Angels had 17 homers last April.

“We’re not going to give them back; we’ll take them,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “We did all right scoring last year without the home run; that can just be icing on the cake. We can still manufacture a run with a two-out hit, a stolen base and another knock. We’re definitely not going to sit back and wait for homers.”

The Red Sox often do -- the defending World Series champions can mash with the best of them -- and they tied Wednesday’s game, 4-4, on David Ortiz’s two-run homer in the fifth.

But Garland’s nifty work in the previous two innings enabled him to absorb the blow. The Red Sox scored in the third and had two on with one out when Manny Ramirez, who was 12 for 22 (.545) with three homers off Garland, came to the plate.

Garland (3-2) fell behind, 2-0, but worked his way back to 3-2 before striking out Ramirez on a 92-mph fastball. J.D. Drew then flied to left, ending the inning.

“In any other situation, I probably would have pitched around him, but I wasn’t able to do that there,” Garland said. “So, it was, ‘Here it is, I’m coming at you,’ and maybe he sat back a bit, thinking I was going around him. You never know, but I was able to throw a few pitches and get him out.”

Asked what he threw to Ramirez, Garland said, “Everything I had -- changeup, sinker, four-seam fastball, slider.”

Garland gave up a leadoff double in the fourth to Sean Casey, who was bunted to third, but got Jed Lowrie to ground to second, the runner holding, and Kevin Cash to ground to third.

Speier, facing the top four batters in the order, yielded only a walk in a scoreless seventh, and Shields got out of a two-on, one-out jam by getting Lowrie to bounce into a double play.

Rodriguez, seemingly recovered from a pair of ankle sprains, hit 94 mph with his first pitch to Cash, the start of a one-two-three ninth and his eighth save. The bullpen has a 1.57 earned run average in the last 10 games after logging a 7.14 ERA in the first 12 games.

“I can see why Scioscia has a hard time letting pitchers go deeper with the lead,” Garland said. “You have three guys who could close. It’s pretty impressive. I’m glad they’re on my side.”

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com