Angels’ rally falls short, 4-2

As the Angels’ offense continued to sputter in the latter innings Sunday afternoon, Torii Hunter made his way down to the batting cage below Angel Stadium.

The Angels center fielder was scheduled to have the day off, but Hunter wanted to be ready in case he was needed . . . for exactly the kind of situation that materialized in the ninth inning.

With two out and two runs already in, Garret Anderson stepped to the plate to face Seattle left-hander Ryan Rowland-Smith with the bases loaded and his team trailing the Mariners by two runs.

Anderson has been an offensive mainstay throughout most of his 13-year major league career, but he isn’t exactly in his prime and was batting .154 against left-handed pitchers.

So Angels Manager Mike Scioscia faced a tough choice -- should he stick with Anderson or go with Hunter, who was batting .333 against left-handers and had already won games this season with late-inning hits?

“I was ready, believe me,” Hunter said.

“Whoever he wanted me to hit for, I was ready for it.”

But Scioscia opted for Anderson, and the 35-year-old reached a full count before striking out looking at Rowland-Smith’s 78-mph offering for the final out of Seattle’s 4-2 victory.

Scioscia said he didn’t turn to Hunter in part because he was still recovering from a sore toe that necessitated X-rays on Sunday.

“You’re thinking of a lot of things, but Torii just had X-rays and he’s a little banged up,” Scioscia said.

The Angels might not have needed the big rally had they not been dropped into another big hole by starter Dustin Moseley, who had hoped that he could manufacture some better luck by shaving his floppy hair.

“It’s the start of a new guy,” Moseley said after his last outing against Texas on Tuesday. “Some guys pull their pant legs up, I cut my hair.”

Five days later, Moseley still resembled the pitcher who has had trouble making it past the fifth inning this season.

Moseley was rocked for eight hits and four runs in 4 2/3 innings, the fourth consecutive poor outing to start the season for the reliever who is filling in for injured starter John Lackey.

Moseley said he made several changes in his delivery and was encouraged by the mechanics, if not the results.

“It seems like I’ve been out there four times, and every time it’s been a battle for me,” he said.

Richie Sexson’s two-run homer in the second inning was the big blow against Moseley, who has a 7.78 earned-run average. But Scioscia committed to giving Moseley at least one more start.

“Right now he’s not having his peak performance, obviously, but he has the ability and it could be a quick fix, so he’ll get the ball again,” Scioscia said.

The Angels had nine hits and a baserunner in every inning except the fourth but couldn’t break through until the ninth.

Mariners reliever Mark Lowe issued consecutive walks and then briefly recovered by striking out Mike Napoli and retiring Erick Aybar on a close play at first after Aybar had hit a high chopper to the pitcher.

Chone Figgins, who had extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a fifth-inning double, walked to load the bases before Gary Matthews Jr. stroked a two-run single through the right side of the infield.

With the sellout crowd of 43,631 on its feet and roaring, reliever Brandon Morrow then walked Vladimir Guerrero to load the bases and induce the Anderson versus Rowland-Smith showdown.

Which just as easily could have been a Hunter versus Rowland-Smith.

“The main goal is to win, and whatever it takes,” Hunter said. “I was ready for it.”

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ben.bolch@latimes.com