(Sports Network) - The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have received excellent performances from their young starting pitchers during their series with the Oakland Athletics. The current American League West leaders are hoping that trend continues when the division rivals conclude a four-game set tonight at Angel Stadium.

Nick Adenhart will make his major league debut tonight for the Angels, with the highly-regarded 21-year-old earning a promotion after amassing a 4-0 record and a microscopic 0.87 earned run average in five starts for Triple-A Salt Lake. The right-hander, considered the top pitching prospect in the Anaheim system, will be taking the place of an ineffective Dustin Moseley in the rotation.

Adenhart will attempt to follow up on back-to-back outstanding starts from teammates Joe Saunders and Ervin Santana. After Saunders tossed eight shutout innings to lead Los Angeles to a 2-0 victory over Oakland on Tuesday, Santana was nearly as good on the mound in last night's matchup.

Santana (5-0) yielded just one unearned run and four hits over 6 1/3 innings as the Angels topped the Athletics, 6-1, on Wednesday. Casey Kotchman paced the Anaheim offense with three hits and three RBI, while Juan Rivera went 2- for-4 with two runs scored to help the Angels to their sixth win in their last eight games.

Oakland starter Dana Eveland (3-2) was tagged for six runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 frame to suffer the loss, the third in five games for the A's. Ryan Sweeney knocked in the club's only run with an RBI single in the fifth inning.

The Athletics attempt to draw even in this series behind Justin Duchscherer, who makes his second start since being activated from the disabled list. The versatile right-hander pitched a solid five innings in his mound return, holding Seattle to a pair of runs and six hits on Saturday, but received a hard-luck loss in Oakland's 5-3 setback to the Mariners.

Duchscherer had been sidelined since April 4 due to a strained biceps.

The 30-year-old has enjoyed terrific success when facing the Angels over the course of his career, although nearly all of it has come as a reliever. Duchscherer is 5-0 with a 1.21 ERA in 22 appearances against Anaheim, only one of which was a start.

That lone start came on September 9, 2003 in Oakland, with Duchscherer firing seven scoreless innings to fuel the A's to an 8-1 victory. He also owns a streak of 19 1/3 shutout frames against the Angels, which has been compiled over 16 relief outings.

Oakland won 10 of its 19 meetings with the Angels in 2007, with the teams splitting 10 encounters in Anaheim a year ago.