ANAHEIM -- This season has not been splendid for Ervin Santana, but he may have found himself in the fall.

Pitching with purpose and for his name to be included on the postseason roster, Santana struck out 10 in 6 1/3 innings. He outdueled J.P. Howell and led the Angels to a 2-1 victory and a series sweep over the Devil Rays before 33,699 on Wednesday at Angel Stadium.

This has been a season spent fighting his mechanics and the media, surviving a soul-searching return to the Minor Leagues, looking for his old friend the slider, and trying to command his fastball as well as his emotions. Santana looked fresh and sharp on Wednesday. He built off his previous outing, a scoreless three-inning relief stint in Chicago, and gave the Angels another reason to hope that this season was an aberration.

"For my career, it's very important," Santana said. "If I pitch in the playoffs or not, my job is to finish strong this season."

The Angels (90-62) reduced their magic number to three and reached the 90-win mark for the eighth time in franchise history and the fourth time in the past six years.

For Santana (7-13), the remainder of this season is about pitching himself back into the plans. He has won two of his last three starts and began to distance himself from the overall inconsistencies that helped him go nine consecutive starts without a victory.

"Consistency is something that he's been preached on all year, but he's had trouble bottling it, trouble keeping it together," manager Mike Scioscia said.

"There are a lot of things that are starting to contribute towards his consistency. It's going to be his discipline, his ability to carry it from a bullpen to a start and maintain it between innings. He understands it now, and hopefully he can carry it over."

Santana fell out of favor at times this season, but he took another step toward proving himself again. He struck out Delmon Young each of the three times he faced him. He crowded the right-handed hitter and froze him on a fastball looking in his first at-bat. In his next two at-bats, Santana struck out Young swinging with a pair of sliders that might have been the best two pitches of his outing.

Santana also maintained his composure in a one-run game. The only mistake that cost him was a first-pitch, fifth-inning fastball that Jonny Gomes drove for a solo home run.

Santana also didn't come apart in the sixth, after slugger Carlos Pena shocked the ballpark and bunted for a base hit. B.J. Upton blooped a single into center field to put runners at first and second.

Santana struck out Young for the third time, got a ground ball off the bat of Raul Casanova for a force play, but walked Gomes to load the bases.

He got out of the inning when he fooled Jorge Velandia with a changeup, getting him to fly out to center to end the inning. Santana scattered six hits and walked two.

The right-hander made a mechanical adjustment when he came back from the Minor Leagues, adjusting his hip position to help generate more torque and find more consistency and power in his windup.

The mechanical seems to have affected the mental, as Santana pitched with confidence. Scioscia, not usually prone to getting excited in postgame press conferences, nearly jumped out of his seat when asked if Santana's slider was as sharp as it has been this season.

"It was exceptional," Scioscia said.

Santana agreed.

"The last few games, I feel like I have my slider back," he said. "Last year, I was more consistent. I'm happy to be back where I feel like I am now."

Catcher Jeff Mathis noticed the difference.

"He's a lot more confident with it," Mathis said. "Instead of easing it up there, he's getting behind it. I can tell he's more confident all the way around. You can see it the way the ball comes out of his hand."

Santana struck out Josh Wilson for his final batter of the game to begin the seventh. Darren Oliver, Justin Speier and Francisco Rodriguez finished the job, with Rodriguez recording his 37th save.

Santana made a minimal amount of offense stand up. Mathis drove in what proved to be the game-winning run when he touched Howell for a two-out RBI single in the fourth inning to give the Angels a 2-0 lead.

Juan Rivera, who started in right field in place of Vladimir Guerrero, hit a solo home run off Howell (1-5) in the second inning. Scioscia said Rivera may see more playing time against left-handed pitching.

The Devil Rays (63-90) weren't seeing the ball very well against Santana, who improved to 25-9 lifetime at Angel Stadium. After a season of struggles, Scioscia probably wouldn't care if Santana pitched well at home, on the road or on Mars.