Haren's arm, Chavez's bat lead A's past Angels

Athletics 3, Angels 0

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- Dan Haren enjoyed watching his fellow Oakland pitchers succeed. He finally got a chance to join in the fun.

Haren outpitched John Lackey for his first win of the season and Eric Chavez drove in two runs to help the Athletics beat the injury-depleted Angels 3-0 on Wednesday, handing Los Angeles its sixth straight loss.

Nick Swisher also drove in a run for the A's, who have won three in a row for the first time this year.

"It's not fun going home without a win, but I felt good pitching well," Haren said. "To get the 'W' is something extra. Now I can enjoy my day off in Texas and just sit around the pool."

A's starting pitchers lead the majors with a 2.07 ERA and have allowed three or fewer runs in each of the last 13 games.

"Another quality performance from a starting pitcher," A's manager Bob Geren said. "Haren matched Lackey pitch for pitch and we were able to string a couple of hits together in that one inning. That's all it took."

The Angels' offensive woes continued without their top two hitters. Vladimir Guerrero and Howie Kendrick were both out of the lineup after getting hit by pitches this week. They flew to Los Angeles on Wednesday to see a hand specialist.

Chone Figgins is also sidelined for the Angels, who have dropped eight of nine.

"Without Vlad and Kendrick in there we knew it was a game we had to have," Haren said. "It's a different lineup without them. I'd rather face almost anyone else in the American League than Vlad."

Making his 100th career appearance, Haren (1-2) allowed four hits in seven sharp innings. He did not walk a batter and struck out three. He retired 14 of 15 hitters during one stretch in a game that took just 2 hours, 9 minutes.

Justin Duchscherer worked the eighth and Huston Street earned his fourth save in four chances by pitching a perfect ninth to complete the five-hitter.

"It's not just Vlad but Chone Figgins and Kendrick, too," Street said. "It's not their No. 1 lineup, so you get a chance to take two games from them."

Lackey (2-2) lost to the A's for only the third time in 20 career starts. He allowed three runs and eight hits over seven innings, striking out four and walking two. Lackey is 10-3 against Oakland, and he had given up just three runs in his previous four starts against the A's, a span of 31 innings.

"To lose [Guerrero] for an extended period of time would not be a good thing," Lackey said. "Going against Haren, I had to throw zeros to win."

The Angels were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. They are hitting .152 in their past 10 games in such situations.

"For a string of games, I don't know if I've ever seen us struggle so much in total offense, not just the batters' box but trying to maybe get on base somehow or move runners," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "Right now we're as stagnant as I've seen."

Jason Kendall and Marco Scutaro opened the third inning with singles and Lackey walked Shannon Stewart to load the bases. Swisher's grounder drove in one run and Chavez followed with an RBI single.

"Lackey always gives us trouble," said Chavez, who added a run-scoring single in the fifth. "He's one of the best pitchers in the league. They're beat up and we needed to take advantage while they're down."

Game notes
A's OF Milton Bradley missed his sixth game with a strained left hamstring. He could return to action Friday night. ... Figgins, recovering from two fractured fingers, took the day off after participating in batting practice Tuesday.