When the Los Angeles Angels needed him most, José Soriano delivered once again.
In the series finale against the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday afternoon, the Angels bounced back from a tough 7-3 loss on Saturday and rode an early offensive outburst behind yet another Soriano pitching gem to victory to secure the series win, winning 9-6 on Sunday.
Soriano did exactly what he has done in his first three starts of the year – deal with poise and ease. He followed up a 10-strikeout performance last time out against the Atlanta Braves with another one, tossing seven shutout innings with a 34% CSW against the Reds in one of the league’s most hitter-friendly ballparks.
Through his first four starts of the year, Soriano has allowed just one earned run through 27 innings of work. His 31 strikeouts lead the league, and he has earned the win in each one. With an ERA of 0.33 to start the year, he has recorded the lowest ERA through his first four starts of the season in Angels franchise history.
The Angels most certainly could have used it. The performance put a stamp on the series, and put the team back at .500 with a record of 8-8.
Despite having an offense that has struggled against left-handed pitching in the early stages of the year, the Angels broke that ice against Reds lefty Andrew Abbott. The southpaw was rattled in only three innings of work, allowing seven runs to an Angels offense that has seen very positive life in the series.
Timely hitting, a rather uncharacteristic quality of the Angels offense, has seen recent improvement and reflected in Sunday’s win. The Angels capitalized on that in the first inning, as back-to-back two-out hits from Nolan Schanuel and Logan O’Hoppe put three runs on the board before Soriano could toe the rubber.
The Angels continued to pad the lead as the game went on. Mike Trout laced an RBI-double in the second inning, improving on a much-needed bounce back series. Oswald Peraza, who has historically lacked power, hit his second homer of the young season in the fourth inning.
Los Angeles strung the rest of their runs together via good situational hitting, putting together two runs on groundouts and another on a Jorge Soler sac-fly.
Now with 16 RBI on the year, Soler leads the American League in the category as he continues to thrive in the clean-up hole. However, a suspension is impending for him from last week’s brawl, and he can only play up until he awaits an answer on his appeal.
Zach Neto worked three walks in the leadoff spot on Sunday. Now with 12 walks through 16 games this season, the start has been promising for the shortstop, who worked only 33 walks in a breakout year in 2025.
Despite all positives that came out of Sunday’s finale, the bullpen flared up late in allowing six runs in the final two innings.
Fortunately, the offense had plenty of insurance to prevent disaster. Sam Bachman struggled in allowing three runs while getting only two outs, while Nick Sandlin and Drew Pomeranz did not have the cleanest of their brief outings.
The Angels will look to ride the many positives of the series win into a four-game set against the New York Yankees, starting tomorrow.
In two of their three weekend games, they had more hits and walks than strikeouts. They had only done that once all of last season, and will look to do similar damage against a Yankees team that is coming off four consecutive losses.