OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- Tim Salmon snapped out of a slump with a three-run homer as the Anaheim Angels defeated the Oakland Athletics , 4-3, for their fourth straight victory.

Mired in an 1-for-20 slide, Salmon homered off Rich Harden in the sixth inning to give the Angels a 4-2 lead. He is batting just .185 this season.

"For whatever reason, that one at-bat, balance and everything clicked," Salmon said. "It's one time hitting the ball hard that gets you rolling. It's going to come. We've never been able to figure it out why I'm a slow starter and it's a feel thing. A few hits gets you rolling and the feel is there."

In a matchup of struggling pitchers, Ramon Ortiz (1-2) recorded his first win of the season, allowing two runs and five hits in five innings. He walked three and struck out six.

"We've got to keep going one at a time as I think it helps keep our focus to where it needs to be," Angels manager Mike Scioscia . "It's a good team that we played this series, very fortunate to come out of here as we did, but we're not looking back as far as sweeping or winning series. We won today's game, we'll turn the page and look forward to Tuesday."

Ortiz gave up an RBI double to Eric Karros in the fourth before the Athletics took a 2-1 lead in the fifth, when Eric Chavez grounded in a double play with the bases loaded.

"I threw a lot of pitches my last two innings but with the bases loaded, I made a good pitch and Chavez hit a ground-ball double play," Ortiz said

After allowing a run to score on a balk in the first inning, Harden (0-2) gave up only one hit over the next four innings, but he surrendered singles to Jeff DaVanon and Jose Guillen with one out in the sixth.

"They're a good offensive team," Harden said. "They got guys that are scrappy, go out there, put the ball in play and they've got their power hitters. It's a solid lineup."

Salmon erased Oakland's one-run lead by drilling the first pitch from Harden over the left field wall.

"He's a good pitcher," Salmon said. "He's got a good arm and you've got to respect the fastball and he just left a pitch up and I got enough of it."

The Athletics closed to 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth as Scott Hatteberg doubled with one out, moved to third on a groundout and scored on Bengie Molina 's passed ball.

But Francisco Rodriguez , who has not given up a run in 10 2/3 innings this season, tossed a scoreless seventh and eighth before Troy Percival recorded the final three outs for his fifth save.

"These are three wins we didn't have before we came in here," Percival said. "I think this shows we're playing better right now and that's a good sign. We struggled the first week, but now guys in the bullpen are getting the workload they want. These are guys who want the ball at every opportunity."