Aybar charged and fielded the ball in front of the second-base bag, but instead of throwing to first, where his momentum was carrying him, the shortstop made an errant, off-balance flip that nicked off Izturis' glove at second.
Inge was credited with a single and a game-tying RBI, but Guillen scored the go-ahead run on Aybar's error. Josh Anderson's sacrifice bunt advanced the runners to second and third.
With the infield in, Adam Everett hit a popup to shallow left that Aybar was not able to catch after a long run. The single scored Laird to make it 10-8.
Curtis Granderson's single loaded the bases, and Placido Polanco's infield single, a high chopper to third, made it 11-8 before Ordonez hit into an inning-ending double play. Inge hit a solo home run off Rich Thompson in the ninth.
Left-hander Joe Saunders became the first Angels starter to give up more than four runs this season, yielding two in the first, two in the third, and one in the fifth on Granderson's home run.
Tigers right-hander Justin Verlander was worse, needing 104 pitches to get through five innings, in which he gave up seven runs and nine hits.
Verlander threw 36 pitches in the first inning alone, including a hanging breaking ball that Morales lofted into the seats in right-center field for a three-run home run and a 3-2 lead.
Aybar's RBI double in the second made it 4-2. Detroit tied the score, 4-4, in the third and went ahead on Granderson's homer in the fifth, but the Angels countered with three in the bottom of the fifth for a 7-5 lead.
Izturis and Bobby Abreu opened with singles and Hunter hit an RBI single to right that advanced Abreu to third. Hunter alertly took second on the throw, and both runners scored on Morales' single to right.
One quirky feature of the Houston Astros' Minute Maid Park is "Tal's Hill," a 30-degree, 90-foot-wide grassy incline that rises from the outfield warning track to the wall in center field.
That makes the hill -- named after Tal Smith, the Astros' head of Baseball operations -- a treacherous section for visiting center fielders such as the Dodgers' Matt Kemp.
"I wouldn't want it in my stadium," Kemp said before Wednesday's game against the Astros. "I don't want to go up that thing. It's too dangerous."
