ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Angels rode the right arm of pitcher Nick Tropeano and the legs of designated hitter Albert Pujols into playoff position Tuesday night.

With their seventh consecutive win, an 8-1 victory over the Oakland A's, the Angels moved past the Houston Astros in the race for the second American League wild card.

Los Angeles remains two games behind first-place Texas in the AL West, as the Rangers also won Tuesday. The Astros lost to the Seattle Mariners, allowing the Angels to move one-half game ahead of Houston in the wild-card race. The New York Yankees hold a three-game edge on the Angels for the first AL wild card.

On Monday night, Pujols hit his 38th home run of the season, a possible sign he is breaking out of a prolonged slump -- he entered that game hitting .174 in September. On Tuesday, he sparked a pivotal four-run fourth inning with his baserunning.

Relegated to designated hitter duty the rest of the season because of a sore foot and chronically sore knees, Pujols led off with an infield single. When Oakland pitcher Chris Bassitt didn't pay attention to him, Pujols stole second without a throw, his fifth stolen base of the season.

Pujols went to third on a groundout and scored on a single by third baseman David Freese before the Angels opened it up for three more runs in the inning.

Later in the game Pujols scored from second on a single to right field. By the time the night was over, Pujols had three hits, three runs and an RBI.

"He's moving well," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "He got down the line well, stole a base, scored from second on a base hit to (A's right fielder) Josh Reddick, which is not an easy thing to do. Albert's a really intelligent baserunner, and now that he's moving a little bit better, he can create some things on the basepaths."

In all, the Angels had 14 hits, including two each from shortstop Erick Aybar, left fielder David Murphy, Freese and second baseman Johnny Giavotella. The resurgent Los Angeles offense scored seven of its eight runs with two outs.

It was more than enough for Tropeano, who was filling in for an injured Matt Shoemaker and pitched the best game of his young career. He struck out a career-high 11 in 6 2/3 innings to get the win.

Tropeano (3-2) gave up only three hits, Oakland scoring its only run against him on a solo homer by first baseman Max Muncy in the fifth inning.

"It's definitely the best outing we've seen from Nick," Scioscia said. "Early on, he had good command of his fastball and was ahead in most counts, got into good counts where he could use his secondary pitches. He used all his stuff. It's the best command we've seen him have."

Tropeano, though, was quick to deflect praise.

"It's all on the offense," he said. "Them getting me that cushion early just gave me the confidence and ability to attack hitters. I used both sides of the plate with my fastball, and it just made my off-speed (pitches) that much better."

Outside of Muncy's homer, the A's got a runner as far as second base only two times in the game.

"We knew he'd throw his changeup and slider in off-counts, and he did," A's manager Bob Melvin said of Tropeano. "Kept us off balance and had a little more velocity on his heater than we probably expected. But I think it was just mixing pitches, and he had a real good slider tonight."

Bassitt allowed a couple of two-out runs in the first inning and never seemed to recover, giving up six runs on eight hits and in 3 2/3 innings.

"You know what, his stuff was good, but his command wasn't good," Melvin said. "He's still a little rusty on where's he's throwing the ball, but you look up and I saw 97 (mph), 96, 95, and there was good movement to it. Maybe not his best breaking stuff, but I think he's still working himself back as far as command goes."

NOTES: Angels RHP Joe Smith, out since spraining his left ankle going down stairs at the team hotel in Minnesota on Sept. 19, threw a bullpen session and did fielding drills. He is expected to be ready to pitch Wednesday. ... The A's hired Justine Siegal to be a guest instructor for their Instructional League team in Arizona from Oct. 4-17. Siegal became the first woman to coach men's baseball professionally in 2009, when she served as first base coach for the Brockton Rox, an independent team. ... The Angels' 11 walk-off wins are the most in the American League and the most for the franchise since 1997 (12). ... The A's are 7-19 in September, the worst in the majors and worst by an Oakland team since the 1978 club went 7-20.