BALTIMORE — The Angels have had their share of walk-offs this season. Sunday, they got a limp-off.

Right fielder Vladimir Guerrero threw out Melvin Mora trying to score the tying run in the bottom of the ninth inning and preserved a 4-3 Angels victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

Guerrero charged in and made a basket catch of a shallow fly ball then fired to catcher Mike Napoli, who blocked the plate and tagged out Mora for the final out.

"A Willie Mays-style catch and then the cannon — he's the best," Angels right-hander John Lackey said of Guerrero's game-ending play.

"That's like a walk-off home run for me," said Napoli who needed help walking off after the collision with Mora.

"Nothing compares to a walk-off," Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez said. "But that was a great ending there."

Mora also had to be helped off the field after the collision. He and Napoli met again a few minutes later in the X-ray room under the stands at Camden Yards.

Mora injured his left foot as he slid into Napoli, tearing off a chunk of Napoli's shin guard. Napoli had X-rays taken of his left leg just above the shin and returned to the clubhouse on crutches wearing a boot on his left ankle.

He wasn't the first Angel in the X-ray room Sunday. Erick Aybar suffered a contusion to his right hand when he dived on the warning track in left field chasing a ground-rule double by Kevin Millar in the second inning.

X-rays were inconclusive and Aybar will be re-examined when the Angels get to Texas. Napoli's status will also be re-evaluated in Texas. The Angels are off today before starting a three-game series against the Rangers on Tuesday.

The Angels offense will limp into Texas having managed just nine hits in the past two games. They managed just four hits Sunday off Orioles right-hander Jeremy Guthrie and two relievers. But two of the hits were home runs: a solo shot by Napoli and a two-run blast by Casey Kotchman. For Kotchman, it was his first hit since he suffered a concussion on June 17, ending an 0-for-19 slump.

That was enough to give the lead to Lackey (11-5) who allowed a two-run home run to Jay Payton in the second inning but no more hits until the eighth.

Lackey pitched into the eighth for the first time since a victory over the Orioles a month ago. But the tying runs were on first and third with one out when he was replaced by Scot Shields. With the runner on first going, pinch hitter Ramon Hernandez grounded an RBI single to left right through the hole vacated by shortstop Orlando Cabrera.

With the tying run now on third and the infield in, Shields got Nick Markakis to ground out. With Millar 6 for 10 in his career against Shields, Scioscia turned to Francisco Rodriguez. He got Millar to pop out to end the inning, but ran into trouble in the ninth when Mora doubled with one out and Jay Payton moved him to third with a bunt single.

Mora took a chance on the shallow fly to right field.

"That's not Melvin's call," Orioles interim manager Dave Trembley said. "You're told at third whether to tag or not tag. That's Juan's call (third-base coach Juan Samuel)."