Monday’s results: American League

Athletics 3, Rangers 2: At Arlington, Texas, Nick Swisher and Eric Chavez hit back-to-back home runs in the sixth, and Joe Blanton pitched six solid innings to help Oakland beat Texas. Swisher homered for the third straight game – a two-run shot off Texas reliever C.J. Wilson. It was Swisher’s ninth homer of the season and gave Oakland a 2-1 lead. Chavez hit his eighth two pitches later off Wilson. Kevin Mench, who was 3 for 4, hit his fourth home run and added an RBI single for Texas. He has homered in four consecutive games. Oakland, which left 10 men on base before the sixth inning, had lost nine of 12. Texas saw its four-game winning streak end. Blanton allowed two runs and eight hits in six innings. He struck out two and walked one. After the Rangers closed within 3-2 on Mench’s run-scoring single, Brad Wilkerson singled to move Mench to third with one out in the sixth. But Blanton, who had given up 14 runs over his last two starts, escaped trouble when Rod Barajas bounced into an inning-ending double play.

Angels 3, Tigers 0: At Anaheim, Calif., Ervin Santana outpitched Kenny Rogers with six sharp innings, Tim Salmon homered and drove in two runs, and Los Angeles snapped Detroit’s five-game winning streak with a victory. Santana threw 111 pitches, combining with three relievers on the Angels’ first shutout of the season. The right-hander scattered five hits, set a career high with 10 strikeouts and escaped a bases-loaded jam in the third. Francisco Rodriguez followed Brendan Donnelly and Scot Shields out of the bullpen and struck out all three batters in the ninth for his eighth save in nine attempts. Santana fanned six of his first nine batters – including Placido Polanco, who was the toughest player in the majors to strike out last season and had fanned only once in 71 at-bats through Detroit’s first 19 games.