The inning began with Gary Matthews Jr., who had just replaced Torii Hunter in center field, being charged with a three-base error after dropping Derek Jeter’s fly ball on the warning track.

“It’s a play I should have made and for some reason I didn’t come up with it,” Matthews said. “He (Santana) has been darn near perfect for us, but when you put any pitcher in that position where you don’t make a play that you probably should make for him, it can get hairy.”

Jeter singled in the first, surpassing Babe Ruth for second on the Yankees’ all-time hits list with 2,519, trailing only Lou Gehrig. He notched a single in the seventh.

“It sounds funny,” Jeter said. “Anytime you’re mentioned in the same sentence as players like that it makes you feel weird. You play long enough and you’re consistent enough, you’re going to make things happen. I’ve been fortunate.”

Santana gave up his lone walk of the game to Bobby Abreu before Rodriguez sent a towering shot to right-center.

Santana, who was 4-0 in his previous seven starts, lost for the first time since July 27 against Baltimore. The right-hander, moved up in the rotation because of an injury to Jered Weaver, allowed six runs and eight hits in 6 1-3 innings, striking out six. Santana had fanned seven or more batters in seven consecutive starts, the first Angel to do so since Nolan Ryan in 1978.

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“I thought Ervin had good stuff and threw the ball much better than his line score is going to show,” Scioscia said. “They hit a couple of balls to the outfield that we couldn’t make plays on. If we made a couple of plays on the defensive side, I think it gives a different look to that game. We didn’t support Ervin enough in the field and couldn’t get enough going at the plate to pressure those guys.”

Angels left fielder Reggie Willits dived for a backhanded catch of Xavier Nady’s double in the second, but the ball bounced off his glove, giving New York a 1-0 lead.

“I thought Reggie had a bead on that first ball and it would have been a nice catch,” Scioscia said. “By no stretch of the imagination am I saying that play was routine, but if we could have made that play, obviously it changes the whole complexion of that first inning.”

Damon hit a two-run homer that chased Santana in the seventh, making it 6-1. He added a solo shot in the ninth.

“I’ll take it after how I started. I wasn’t catching up to any of his fastballs,” he said. “I just want to try to feel good at the plate. Lately it’s been a rough go. There’s been a lot of guys who’ve been struggling. It was good to get a big home run from Alex to give us a cushion.”

One night after routing the Yankees 12-1, the Angels’ only run came on Vladimir Guerrero’s RBI groundout in the sixth.