BALTIMORE -- Jered Weaver was winless in his first six starts before blanking the Houston Astros on May 8. The right-hander pitched well again when he took the mound on Friday night against the Baltimore Orioles.

Weaver shut down the Orioles for 7 1/3 innings and Albert Pujols homered as the Los Angeles Angels stretched their winning streak to four games with a 3-1 victory.

Weaver (2-4) threw a complete game shutout in his last outing and the right-hander blanked the Orioles in the first seven innings on Friday night before shortstop J.J. Hardy led off the eighth with a home run that cut the Angels' lead to 2-1.

Overall, Weaver gave up one run and three hits and rarely got into any trouble.

"I didn't start figuring things out mechanically until about the fourth or fifth," Weaver said. "I was able to keep those guys off the bases for the most part. It's not too much of fly-ball pitcher's ballpark. I was just trying to keep it on the ground as much as possible."

Angels manager Mike Scioscia said Weaver displayed the kind of strong command he showed last time against the Astros, which kept the Orioles quiet.

"His stuff tonight was better than we saw early in the season," Scioscia said. "I think he was able to get the fastball into good spots (and) brought all his pitches into the game. He was very pitch-efficient and command was a big reason for that. He just kept those guys off balance all game."

Right-hander Joe Smith replaced Weaver two batters after the Hardy homer and got the final two outs in the eighth before second baseman Johnny Giavotella added a sacrifice fly in the ninth to give the Angels (18-17) a 3-1 lead.

After that, right-hander Huston Street came on in the bottom of the ninth and secured his 12th save.

Weaver outdueled Orioles starter Wei-Yin Chen (1-2). The left-hander gave up two runs and five hits in seven innings plus one batter to keep Baltimore (15-18) close.

Chen allowed single runs in the first two innings, a solo homer from Pujols in the first and catcher Carlos Perez's sacrifice fly in the second, but didn't allow anything after that.

"(Chen is) in a pretty good place," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "I've said many times left-handed starters at this level are going to have to get quality right-handed hitters out to be a good starter. He made very few mistakes tonight."

Pujols gave the Angels a 1-0 lead in the first inning with his solo homer to left off Chen with two outs. The first basemen crushed a 1-2 pitch into the left-field seats.

"It wasn't really a bad pitch, but in that at-bat I pitched one pitch to the same location, so he already saw a pitch in that location," Chen said through an interpreter. "He made me pay. All I can do is try to make an adjustment not to make the same mistake again."

The Angels made it 2-0 in the second when shortstop Erick Aybar doubled to start the inning and scored on Perez's sacrifice fly.

Weaver kept the Orioles quiet early. The right-hander retired eight in a row from the second through the fifth.

Weaver's error put Hardy on second with one out in the fifth, but the Angels' starter recovered to retire the next two batters and preserve the two-run lead.

NOTES: RHP Bud Norris became ill again Thursday and Orioles manager Buck Showalter said after Friday's game that RHP Ubaldo Jimenez will replace him as the starter on Saturday. Norris got sick last weekend in New York and still pitched against the Yankees, but he'll be pushed back at least one day. Showalter said Norris or RHP Chris Tillman will start Sunday. ... C Matt Wieters keeps doing more rehab work in Florida and will meet the Orioles in Miami next weekend to work with the team. A rehab assignment should be coming after that if all goes well. ... Angels hitters are trying to get going after a slow start. They scored three runs or less in 19 of their 34 games this season heading into the Baltimore series. They were 6-13 in those games. ... RHP Joe Smith entered the game tied for the major league lead with nine holds this season.