The Padres eight-game winning streak ran into a brick wall in the name of MLB-leading pitcher José Soriano, as San Diego was shut out for the first time in 2026 in an 8-0 loss to the Los Angeles Angels in the series opener at Angel Stadium.
After pounding out ten-plus hits in each of their past five games, the Padres (13-7) could only cobble together a trio on Friday night. Meanwhile the Angels (11-10) battered Brown and Gold pitchers for 13 hits, with a pair of doubles and home runs.
"We took really good at bats against Soriano, he's just a a really good pitcher. We battled him, we got him out of there before the sixth inning which was a goal of ours pregame, to get him out as early as we could," manager Craig Stammen said.
"At that time the score was already 8-0, so tough to hang your hat on that, but the competing that we're showing in the box is pretty good so that will only benefit us going forward the rest of the year."
As expected, chances were few and far between against Soriano, who set down the side in order in four innings.
The lone early chance came in the third, when Ty France hit a one-out single and Luis Campusano walked. Fernando Tatis Jr. worked a full-count free pass to load the bases, but Jackson Merrill grounded out against one of Soriano’s trademark sinkers.
Manny Machado had the only other hit off the Halos’ starter, poking it through the left side in the sixth inning with two down before Xander Bogaerts walked to end Soriano’s evening. Gavin Sheets then gave the first-pitch fastball from reliever Chase Silseth a ride, but saw it die on the warning track.
Sheets collected the lone extra base hit for San Diego with a two-out double in the ninth off Jordan Romano, making it three games in a row with a double. He leads the Padres with nine two-baggers and 11 extra base hits total.
Meanwhile, starter Matt Waldron lasted just 3 2/3 innings in his first Majors start since June 30, 2025, as the Angels laced him for six runs on eight hits. Five of the six runs were driven in with two outs and two strikes, as Waldron took the loss and had four strikeouts and a walk.
"He battled and just couldn't quite get the outs when he needed them to finish innings," Stammen said.
First it was a lead off home run by Yoán Moncada in the second inning, then a two-out plunking of Logan O’Hoppe set up Adam Frazier for an RBI double and Zach Neto followed with an RBI single.
In the fourth, a two-out walk to Mike Trout with a man on opened the door for Nolan Schanuel to hit rope an RBI single, which Jo Adell followed with a two RBI double off reliever David Morgan to close the book on the starter.
Morgan allowed two more runs in the fifth when he hit lead off batter Oswald Peraza with a pitch and then Josh Lowe hit his third home run of the season. The Angels have hit 34 home runs, the most in the AL and second-most in MLB behind the Dodgers (35).
Soriano earned his third win of the season, going 5 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts (four on his knucklecurve) and four walks. After entering the day with a league-low 0.33 ERA, he lowered it 0.28 with the performance and has not allowed a run over his last 19 2/3 innings since allowing a first inning home run against Atlanta on April 6.
"Knowing him in the past, you always thought of the high-90s sinker, and then he comes in breaking out the curveball, and that pitch was very impressive from the side of the dugout and gave out guys trouble at the beginning," Stammen said. "We had the plan of trying to lay off that pitch, it was just hard for us to lay off of that pitch, it was a really good pitch and complements his sinker."
Waldron was reinstated from the 15-day IL prior to the game to start in place of Nick Pivetta, with the Padres optioning Alek Jacob to Triple-A El Paso. Additionally, Ramón Laureano did not start, getting a break while riding a six-game hitting streak.
Game two of the set will see Germán Márquez (2-1, 5.54 ERA) get the start for the Padres, having picked his wins over his last two outings. The Angels will counter with left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (0-2, 7.50 ERA), who has given up four or more runs in three of his four starts.
First pitch is scheduled for 6:38 p.m. on Saturday, April 18 at Angel Stadium.
This story was updated at 10:01 p.m.