Angels’ lot turns in a flash

DETROIT -- These are the days, Torii Hunter said, when it’s good to be a bald man.

The Angels went from nearly being no-hit to pulling off a remarkable comeback to giving up the decisive runs on a grounder and a fly ball that could have been outs, all in about an inning and a half Saturday.

“I can’t handle games like this -- they’re too frustrating,” Hunter said after the Angels lost to the Detroit Tigers, 6-4, in Comerica Park. “I know I don’t have any hair, but I think if I let it grow, I’d have gray hair right now.”

No-hit for 5 2/3 innings by Armando Galarraga, who was making his fourth big league start, the Angels tied the score, 3-3, with three runs in the seventh on Maicer Izturis’ two-run double and Chone Figgins’ run-scoring single.

But the Tigers countered with three runs in the bottom of the inning, a rally that featured only two hard-hit balls, and held on to end the Angels’ winning streak at three games.

Curtis Granderson hit a one-out triple to left-center field against reliever Darren O’Day. The Angels walked Placido Polanco intentionally to set up a double play for Gary Sheffield, who was hitless in 11 at-bats.

The Angels got a grounder, but not the one they wanted. Sheffield hit a slow chopper that second baseman Izturis charged and fielded on the grass in front of the bag.

Izturis’ only real play was to first, but thinking he had a chance at two, he made a back-hand flip that got by shortstop Erick Aybar for the Angels’ first error in nine games.

“The ball wasn’t hit to where you were going to be able to turn two,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “Unfortunately, that opened the door to some bigger things.”

Granderson scored on the fielder’s choice for a 4-3 lead, and Polanco took second on the error. Magglio Ordonez, who had a run-scoring double in the first inning, followed with a fly ball to deep left-center field.

Hunter and left fielder Garret Anderson gave chase, but the ball dropped for a run-scoring double.

“There was a miscommunication,” Scioscia said. “Both guys went hard and had a bead on it, and at the last second, Garret veered off and Torii veered off. It wasn’t a routine ball by any means, but it looked like one of them might have a chance at it.”

Hunter disagreed.

“There was no miscommunication,” he said. “I didn’t have a chance to get it. It looked like there was miscommunication because we were so close to it. It looked like we gave up on it, but it was dumped in a perfect spot.”

Anderson said when he saw Hunter closing at the last moment, he pulled up a bit, perhaps wary of a nasty collision.

“He’s the center fielder,” Anderson said, “so you have to make sure when he’s going after the ball, he has the right of way.”

Could Anderson have caught the ball had he not seen Hunter?

“I don’t know,” he said.

Jacque Jones hit a sacrifice fly for a 6-3 lead.

Vladimir Guerrero doubled in the eighth for the 2,000th hit of his career and scored on Hunter’s double-play grounder to pull the Angels within 6-4, but closer Todd Jones blanked the Angels in the ninth to seal the win.

“We did a good job to come back,” Scioscia said. “We just cracked the door open a little too much in the seventh.”

The Tigers opened the door for the Angels in the first when Galarraga, a 26-year-old right-hander acquired from Texas in February, walked two and shortstop Edgar Renteria committed an error, allowing the Angels to load the bases with two out.

But Galarraga, who relied mostly on a 91-mph fastball and slider, struck out Anderson looking, the first of 15 consecutive batters retired before Guerrero broke up the no-hitter with a two-out triple in the sixth, the first hit Galarraga gave up to a right-hander in 28 at-bats this season.

“We weren’t familiar with him,” Hunter said of Galarraga. “We were trying to work him, see what his pitches were like, and before you know it, he’s throwing a no-hitter for five or six innings. I think next time we face him, we’ll have a better plan.”

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com