Angels starter Kelvim Escobar, at 31, is having the best year of his career.

AP / Danny Moloshok

BOSTON — The Angels, down 0-1 in the best-of-five ALDS, are turning to right-hander Kelvim Escobar to start Game Two tonight against the Red Sox’ Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Escobar, who turned 31 this season, finally has blossomed into a big winner. He went 18-7 with a 3.40 earned-run average in 30 starts, including three complete games this year. This, he realizes, has been a breakout year for him.

“I think I’ve just been building experience throughout my career,” said Escobar, who made it to the big leagues with Toronto in 1997 and bounced from the rotation to the bullpen before being obtained by the Angels in 2004 and installed as a starter.

“I’ve been around for a long time, [having] the desire to get better every day, learn the game and what it takes to go out there and be successful. I’m very comfortable. I’m ready. I think I’ve been pitching very well the last few years, but to be a winner at this level it takes more than going out there and pitching well. You have to play defense and you have to get support from the hitters,” said Escobar, who was only 11-14 but with a solid 3.61 ERA in 2006.

His manager, Mike Scioscia, has seen Escobar’s emergence building over the last few years.

“He’s a guy who obviously has the makeup, the stuff to be one of the premier pitchers in baseball,” said Scioscia. “And he’s shown that. I don’t think there is a game where I haven’t seen Kelvim prepare himself, go out there with a game plan and makes the other team beat him since he’s been with us.

“This is a breakout year for Kelvim because he got more [run] support. He threw the ball just as well as he has this year a couple of years ago. He’s one of the top pitchers in our league and with the support he has gotten, you can see the wins he has put up this year. He’s always had the potential. He’s very comfortable in his role with his stuff. He’s very confident. He has pitched very well for us this season,” said Scioscia.

Escobar’s game plan appears to be simple.

“I don’t think I can change the way I pitch,” said Escobar. “I’m just going to go out there and be aggressive, pound the strike zone and use all of my pitches, do what I do best and let my ability take care of the game.”

And Scioscia will be reminding him not to attach too much importance to the game, even if a loss would put the Angels in dire straits in the series.

“I think the advice to give him is not look at it as the biggest start of your career. It’s a baseball game. Hopefully Kelvim will be able to establish the strike zone early tomorrow. I don’t think there’s any magic spell or formula he needs to take into the game. He needs to get in the zone early and put guys away and his stuff will speak for itself,” said Scioscia.

skrasner@projo.com