ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Designated hitter Albert Pujols is providing fuel not only for his own ascent through baseball's records but for the Los Angeles Angels' surge in the American League West.

Pujols hit his 10th home run in 15 games and left-hander C.J. Wilson allowed two hits in seven innings to lead the Angels to a 1-0 win over the Oakland Athletics on Saturday night in front of 43,540 at Angel Stadium.

Los Angeles not only gave the A's their sixth loss in their past eight games, but the Angels moved within 2 1/2 games of the first-place Houston Astros with their third consecutive victory and their fourth in five games.

Pujols gave the Angels their 1-0 lead in the first inning with his 18th home run of the season. On a 2-2 count, Pujols propelled a 93 mph fastball from right-hander Kendall Graveman into the Athletics' bullpen in left field for his 538th career homer.

"The pitch to Pujols was down," Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. "It wasn't an awful pitch. He just went down there and got it."

The drive gave Pujols 1,636 career RBIs, tying him with Hall of Famer Ernie Banks for 29th place all time. Pujols also became the first Angel to hit 10 home runs in 15 games since May 2000 when Mo Vaughn accomplished the feat.

"You're seeing what Albert's done his whole career," Los Angeles manager Mike Scioscia said. "It's fun to watch and it's important for us now."

Pujols is tied with center fielder Mike Trout and Seattle Mariners designated hitter Nelson Cruz for the most home runs in the American League.

"It's the same thing I've been doing since day one," Pujols said of his recent power surge. "I'm still hitting the ball at people. Maybe I'm finding some holes."

Wilson (4-5) matched his season high with eight strikeouts in his seven innings, induced eight groundouts and did not concede a run for the first time since April 7. The two hits allowed tied the left-hander's season low. Wilson also gave up three walks.

"I was living on the edge," Wilson said. "This is one of the harder games I've had to work through because I had to make so many pitches with the game on the line.

"I was pretty drained mentally, so I had to take a hit of ammonia after the fifth inning to wake up. That got me jazzed up and a little more outwardly aggressive."

But after right-hander Joe Smith pitched a perfect eighth inning in relief, the A's brought the potential go-ahead run to the plate against right-handed closer Huston Street in the ninth.

With two outs, Street walked designated hitter Billy Butler, who was replaced by pinch-runner Eric Sogard. Pinch-hitter Josh Reddick, who began the game ranked seventh in the American League with a .309 average, came to the plate but popped out to shortstop Erick Aybar and Street claimed his 19th save this season and the 294th of his career.

Oakland had a chance to end the shutout in the top of the fifth by putting runners in scoring position against Wilson, who permitted only two baserunners in the first 4 1/3 innings.

Third baseman Brett Lawrie walked with one out and moved to third when shortstop Marcus Semien doubled down the left-field line with two outs. But Wilson fanned right fielder Sam Fuld to strike out the side.

The A's again put the potential tying run in scoring position in the top of the seventh. After catcher Josh Phegley reached base on a fielder's choice, Lawrie's grounder was mishandled for an error. But Angels first baseman Efren Navarro speared a line drive from Stephen Vogt, then threw to Aybar at second to double off Lawrie and defuse the threat.

"He hit a bullet," Melvin said. "If it ends up in the corner, it's probably two runs."

For Wilson, who threw his 106th pitch to get the double play, Navarro's catch played a lesser role.

"The throw was the big part, more than anything," Wilson said. "I would'