Vladimir Guerrero homers in Angels’ 11-3 win over Rockies

Guerrero homers in Angels’ 11-3 win

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Vladimir Guerrero ended a 28-game home run drought and had three RBIs and Bobby Abreu drove in three runs with a homer and a double as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Colorado Rockies 11-3 on Wednesday night.

The Angels, trying to win three straight division titles for the first time in the franchise’s 49-year history, remained tied with Texas for the AL West lead after falling a season-worst 5½ games off the pace on May 13.

Joe Saunders (8-4) allowed a run and four hits in six-plus innings, including a solo homer to Garrett Atkins leading off the seventh. He struck out six and walked one and improved to 5-1 with a 2.70 ERA in eight interleague starts.

Chone Figgins was 3 for 4 and scored four runs, helping hand the Rockies their second straight loss after a stretch where they won 17 of 18.

Jason Marquis (9-5) threw 88 pitches over 3 1-3 innings in the second-shortest of his 15 starts this season. The right-hander, trying to tie Kevin Slowey and the injured Roy Halladay for the major league lead in wins, retired nine of the 21 batters he faced and allowed eight runs and seven hits.

One of the runs was unearned, the result of a fielding error by three-time Gold Glove first baseman Todd Helton in the fourth. Helton misplayed a leadoff grounder by Eric Aybar before Torii Hunter drove him in with an infield single that made it 7-0 and chased Marquis. Josh Fogg came in to face Guerrero and threw a wild pitch that enabled Figgins to score.

Marquis needed 30 pitches to get out of the Angels’ three-run first. Guerrero drove in the first run with a double that ended an 0-for-14 rut.

Guerrero, playing his second game since getting rid of his trademark dreadlocks, made it 6-0 in the second with a first-pitch homer to left-center with two outs after Abreu’s RBI double.

Guerrero’s 394th career homer and second of the season ended a drought of 109 at-bats since his previous one on April 12 against Boston’s Hideki Okajima.

Guerrero, who was the Angels’ DH, has not played right field all season because of a torn muscle in his chest, which has sidelined him for 35 games and still prevents him from throwing from that distance.

NOTES: Six of the Angels’ next 13 games are against Texas, including a three-game series that begins Monday night at Arlington. … RHP Justin Speier, who spent parts of three seasons with the Rockies, relieved Saunders in the seventh and threw called third strikes past Troy Tulowitzki, Chris Iannetta and Ian Stewart in succession. … The Rockies have lost 14 of their last 18 meetings with the Angels, who are a major league-best 11-4 this season in interleague play and 125-102 since the format was introduced on 1997. … The Rockies have homered in a season-high eight straight games.