Philadelphia (34-30) at Los Angeles (32-30)

Kevin Appier had gone seven starts between losses.

After seeing that streak end in his last outing, he’ll look to begin another when the Anaheim Angels host the Philadelphia Phillies in the finale of their three-game interleague series at Edison Field.

On Friday, the 35-year-old right-hander suffered his first defeat since a 4-0 loss to the Texas Rangers on April 14. Through seven innings of a 4-1 loss to the Flordia Marlins, he allowed four runs and three hits while striking out five and walking two.

Although Appier only gave up three hits, two of those were home runs.

“I left the slider flat a few times and those were the two pitches that they hit for home runs,” Appier said. “Most of the time, my mechanics were good, but the few times I made a mistake they didn’t let me get away with it.”

He’ll try not to make any more mistakes against the Phillies, as Anaheim tries to win for the fourth time in five games. After dropping Monday’s series opener 3-0, the Angels won 2-1 on Tuesday.

John Lackey was impressive over 6 1-3 innings and Tim Salmon scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch by Brandon Duckworth to give the Angels the win.

The Phillies, who scored their lone run on an RBI single by David Bell, had won three straight.

For the second time in two nights, however, Philadelphia failed to bunt a runner to third in a crucial situation. Down by a run, Pat Burrell led off the seventh with a double and Tomas Perez tried to advance him, but Lackey charged off the mound to field Perez’s bunt and threw to Glaus for the tag on Burrell.

Jimmy Rollins, who popped up an attempted sacrifice in the sixth inning of Monday night’s win, did it again trying for a two-out base hit. He has just one sacrifice this season.

Philadelphia’s 18 sacrifice bunts are the fewest among NL teams.

STANDINGS: Phillies - 3rd place, 9 GB, NL East. Angels - 3rd place, 10 GB, AL West.

PHILLIES PROBABLE STARTER: Brett Myers (5-5, 3.21 ERA). Myers has struggled a bit in recent starts, giving up at least four earned runs in three of his last four starts. On Friday, he had his shortest outing of the season. In a 7-4 loss to the Oakland Athletics, he lasted four innings, giving up five runs and four hits. The 22-year-old right-hander will be making his first-ever start against the Angels.

ANGELS PROBABLE STARTER: Appier (4-3, 4.80 ERA). In two career games against the Phillies, Appier has no record and 3.21 ERA.

OFFENSIVE LEADERS: Phillies - Mike Lieberthal, .323 avg.; Jim Thome, 15 HRs and 48 RBIs; Jimmy Rollins, 41 runs and 7 SBs. Angels - Garret Anderson, .305 avg. and 57 RBIs; Troy Glaus, 14 HRs and 42 runs; Adam Kennedy, 11 SBs.

INTERLEAGUE RECORDS: Phillies - 3-5; Angels - 5-3.

STREAKS AND NOTES: Phillies - 3B David Bell is a career .143 hitter (3-for-21) against Appier. … The Phillies signed veteran INF John Valentin to a minor league deal on Tuesday. Valentin hit .240 with three home runs and 30 RBI in 114 games with the New York Mets last season. He will report to Triple-A Scranton. … 1B Thome started as a DH for the first time as a National Leaguer and went 0-for-3 Tuesday. During his 12 seasons with Cleveland, he batted .263 with 104 hits, 23 homers and 70 RBIs as a DH. Angels - LF Anderson is 0-for-8 in the series’ first two games. … Anaheim batters have struck out 324 times, the fewest in the majors. … The Angels went over the 1 million mark in home attendance in their 29th home game, matching the club record set in 1983.

ROAD/HOME RECORDS: Phillies - 15-15 on the road; Angels - 16-13 at home.

INJURIES: Phillies - INF Tyler Houston (finger), 15-day DL; RHP David Coggin (shoulder), 15-day DL. Angels - RHP Mickey Callaway (shoulder), 15-day DL; RHP Matt Wise (elbow), 60-day DL.