ATLANTA - The Angels have played jump rope with the .500 line once again, making it back to even in the W/L column with a 5-1 win win over the Atlanta Braves Thursday, July 3 at Truist Park.
Angels shortstop Zach Neto scored three of those runs, doing so with three monster hits: a single, double and solo home run, all by the fourth inning.
Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
Los Angeles Angels shortstop Zach Neto (9) gets high fives in the dugout after scoring a run against the Atlanta Braves during the first inning at Truist Park.
Outfielder Jo Adell singled to score Neto in the first, extending Adell's hitting streak to 14 games. That would all the Angels would get in the first, however, after catcher Logan O'Hoppe grounded out with the bases loaded to end the inning.
Los Angeles bolstered their offense with home runs by Neto and Nolan Schanuel to improve the Halo lead to 4-0 while Soriano kept Atlanta scoreless. Outfielder Taylor Ward tripled to score Mike Trout from first base in the top of the sixth, but every run other than Ward's sixth inning contribution was knocked in by an Angel 26 years or younger in Adell, Neto and Schanuel.
heads up for the schanuwall 👀 pic.twitter.com/FkxkK1ZoaT
— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) July 3, 2025
Angels starter José Soriano turned in a gem from the mound, going seven scoreless innings while allowing just three hits and striking out 7, a bounce-back from his struggles in his previous start June 27, where he managed just four innings of work while allowing eight runs. Thursday's game was the sixth start this season that Soriano took into at least the seventh inning.
The Angels almost escaped with the shutout intact until Atlanta outfielder Jurickson Profar homered off Angels reliever Brock Burke with one out in the bottom of the ninth to make it a 5-1 game. That would be the only retaliation the Braves could manage as the next two Atlanta batters went down to close the win for the Angels.
The game marked the debut of Angels infielder Chad Stevens, who was called up to replace Christian Moore after Moore was placed on the 10-day IL with a left thumb sprain.
The Angels head across the northern border to continue their road trip with a three-game-series against the Toronto Blue Jays beginning Friday, July 4 at 4:07 pm PDT.