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| DETROIT -- The Angels ran into a pitcher with whom they had little history, and that's what Armando Galarraga tried to keep out of his mind -- history -- entering the sixth inning of his fourth Major League start on Saturday at Comerica Park. Vladimir Guerrero had his own ideas. Two hits away from 2,000, Guerrero lashed a two-out triple to the right-center gap. Galarraga, who'd retired 15 in a row, would get neither his no-hitter nor his win. But the Tigers rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh for a 6-4 victory in front of 42,068 at Comerica Park. "I knew [about the no-hitter]," Galarraga said, "but I tried not to think about it. That gets you in trouble." Trouble, of course, could be Guerrero's middle name. "Vladimir's got a lot more coming, too," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said of No. 2,000, which came on a double to the left-center gap in his next at-bat, in the eighth. "This is just a milestone. These milestones, all they do is validate the talent." After the double for No. 2,000, Guerrero scored when Torii Hunter rapped into a double play. Todd Jones took care of the ninth for his fourth save, and the Angels' three-game road winning streak had expired. The Tigers made it happen in the seventh with a bullet by Curtis Granderson, a fly ball by Magglio Ordonez that found a seam in the Angels' defense and a ground ball that Gary Sheffield hit too softly. That doesn't happen every day. The Angels launched their tying rally in the seventh on a Hunter bunt that led to a two-base throwing error by Galarraga, the Venezuelan apparently losing his grip. "I do that about five, six times a year," Hunter said. "We needed baserunners there. Righties were like 0-for-24 [0-for-27 actually] against him until a man called Vladimir Guerrero got hold of one. "I think it might have thrown him off when he threw the ball away [past first baseman Miguel Cabrera] on the bunt. That's where we got the three runs." Garret Anderson slashed a single to right and Maicer Izturis' double to left-center delivered both runners, ending Galarraga's eventful day. When Chone Figgins punched a two-out RBI single to left against Aquilino Lopez, the Angels were even at 3. Lopez became the lucky winning pitcher, moving to 2-0, when the Tigers rallied in their half of the seventh against Darren O'Day, who absorbed his first Major League defeat after entering in the sixth behind starter Dustin Moseley. O'Day's luck was no better than that of Moseley, which is to say not good at all. Granderson, who'd blooped a critical double against Moseley in the fifth, leading to two runs, doubled to left-center with one out in the seventh. It would be the only ball the power-laden Tigers would hit hard against O'Day. After a walk to Placido Polanco, who'd singled home two runs in the fifth, Sheffield hit a chopper over the mound. Charging, thinking two outs with a tag of the runner, Izturis realized that would not be possible with Polanco behind him. Fielding the ball and flipping on the move, Izturis missed shortstop Erick Aybar at the bag, the ball rolling free for an error. "He didn't hit it hard enough," Izturis said. "That was all I could do, and it didn't work out." Ordonez, an Angels slayer throughout his career, was up next, and he lifted a fly ball to left-center. Scioscia sensed a miscommunication between Anderson in left and Hunter in center, but both players said otherwise. "I don't think it was a miscommunication," Hunter said. "The ball just dropped in the perfect spot [for Ordonez and the Tigers]. I caught it on one hop. It happens." Anderson, racing over, veered off when he saw Hunter coming full-steam ahead. "The center fielder has the right of way there," Anderson said. "Torii made the effort but just couldn't get there in time." Earlier, in the fifth, Anderson had made a running catch in deep left-center on Brandon Inge's drive when he did not catch Hunter in the vicinity with his peripheral vision. Ordonez's second RBI double of the day -- he'd sent one into the left-field corner in the first to deliver Polanco after a single and steal -- left Sheffield on third. He scored on Jacque Jones' sacrifice fly. O'Day buckled down and retired Ivan Rodriguez on a force to end the threat. Moseley, his ERA at 7.30 in five starts, was disappointed that he didn't achieve better results with quality stuff that produced five strikeouts, including Sheffield and Ordonez looking at third strikes. He had a two-seamer with movement Greg Maddux would have been happy to call his own, and his curveball also was reaching all the right zones. "Everything got a lot better for me today, except my luck," Moseley said. "I was controlling counts, they worked back into some counts, and my pitch count got a little high. You make pitches and balls don't fall your way, there's not much you can do. "I want to win so bad, man. I've got to go pitch-to-pitch. It was something I tried to do today. I was putting a little too much pressure on myself to win. Today, I took deep breaths, took my time, controlled what was going on. I just didn't get the outcome I wanted." |