(Sports Network) - Two American League West teams that haven't won a series in a while get a chance to end their droughts tonight, when the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim play the rubber match of a three-game set with the visiting Oakland Athletics.

The Angels have not won any of their last four series and enter this evening's test with eight losses in their last 13 games. Oakland's streak is far worse, as the A's last took a series from July 8-10, when the non-contending club won two of three matchups with Seattle. The Athletics have not won 12 consecutive sets since.

Despite Anaheim's recent struggles, the Angels still hold a decided 16-game advantage on second-place Texas in the AL West standings. Los Angeles has also won three of its last four tilts following Tuesday's 5-1 triumph over Oakland.

John Lackey (11-2) continued his career-long mastery of the A's last night, as the Angels ace took a shutout into the ninth inning and scattered seven hits in a complete-game effort. Lackey is now a stellar 14-3 lifetime against Oakland.

Torii Hunter went 3-for-4 with an RBI double to lead the Angels offensively, while Howie Kendrick and Gary Matthews Jr. each finished with two hits and a run batted in.

Jack Cust spoiled Lackey's shutout bid with a solo homer with one out in the top of the ninth.

Greg Smith (6-13) worked the first six innings for Oakland and allowed five runs on 10 hits to register a loss.

The Athletics, who have compiled a brutal 9-30 record since July 12, figure to be tested tonight by 14-game winner Joe Saunders. The Angels' lefty has won both of his 2008 starts against Oakland and yielded just four runs -- two earned -- along with 10 hits over 14 1/3 innings in those outings.

For his career, Saunders is 4-1 with a 4.02 earned run average in seven encounters with the A's.

The All-Star hurler has been slumping some lately, as Saunders is winless over his last four starts and was tagged for six runs and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings of Friday's home loss to Minnesota. He had recorded three straight no- decisions prior to that setback.

Gio Gonzalez gets his first-ever look at the Angels tonight as the rookie readies for his fifth big-league start. The 22-year-old lefty has posted mixed results since being called up from the minors in early August, as evidenced by his performance in Seattle this past Friday.

Gonzalez struck out seven Mariners in five innings that night, but also walked five batters and allowed four runs -- two earned -- in a no-decision. He has issued 14 free passes in 19 1/3 innings during his first four starts in the majors.

A sandwich-round selection by the White Sox in 2004, Gonzalez was traded by the Chicago organization to Oakland this past winter as part of a deal that sent outfielder Nick Swisher to the Sox.

The Angels have won nine of the 15 meetings between these AL West foes in 2008 and holds a 5-4 edge on Oakland in the games played in Anaheim this year.