Recap: LA Angels vs. Oakland

Anaheim, CA (Sports Network) - The Oakland Athletics continue to rely on their unheralded young arms.

They've yet to falter.

This time it was rookie A.J. Griffin, who tossed eight scoreless frames in Oakland's 4-1 win over the LA Angels of Anaheim in the third installment of a key four-game set.

"I felt pretty good, I had a lot of friends here from San Diego. All four pitches were working tonight," Griffin said.

The AL wild card-leading A's have won the first three contests of the series and extended their road winning streak to a franchise record-tying 12 consecutive games. They've won six in a row overall.

Eleven of the 18 rookies Oakland has used this season -- which is second in the majors behind the Chicago Cubs (20) -- have been pitchers. Griffin (6-0) became the first starter in Oakland history to open his career 6-0. He fanned six and scattered six hits.

"He's off to a decent start, that's probably as good as we've seen him," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "He keeps you off-balance, he's got a lot of confidence, he's fun to watch."

Ryan Cook picked up the final out in the ninth and notched his 14th save of the year.

Ervin Santana (8-12) struck out six, but surrendered two runs -- one earned -- on four hits and three walks for the Angels, who had won six in a row coming into the set. The Angels are 3 1/2 games behind the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees, who are tied atop the AL East, for the second wild-card spot.

"Sometimes you run into pitching that shuts you down. We're seeing that right now," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.

Albert Pujols homered in a losing effort.

The A's struck first in the opening frame, added another in the sixth and plated two more in the eighth.

In the first, Josh Reddick hit a two-out double and scored when Yoenis Cespedes reached on Erick Aybar's error at shortstop.

Cespedes smacked a leadoff homer in the sixth into the rocks in left-center field, and Derek Norris' RBI double and Coco Crisp's run-scoring single in the eighth made it 4-0.

Pujols began the ninth with his 30th homer of the season. Aybar stroked a two- out double into the gap in left-center field, which chased Sean Doolittle before Cook induced Vernon Wells into a game-ending groundout to shortstop.