ANAHEIM — The Los Angeles Angels have not been playing good baseball over their last 15 games.
Monday night was a testament to the way they've been playing as they lost 6-0 to the Chicago White Sox and gave up 16 hits while striking out 14 times.
For the most part, the Angels' (13-23) frustrations have lied on a bullpen that has failed to secure leads in the game, while the offense has struggled not to strikeout.
The Angels lineup leads baseball with 361 strikeouts this year, ahead of the Colorado Rockies who have 346. They have struck out 10-plus times in 16 games, and tonight was a vintage performance of the 2026 season.
"We're struggling," Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. "There's no other way around it. Sometimes you just gotta face it and believe in what you're doing, it is the right thing, and just keep going every single day."
"It's a grind. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it right?"
With the team looking to get out of the recent funk that has plagued them for over two weeks now, reigning American League pitcher of the month José Soriano took the mound for the Angels.
Coming off his worst performance of the season while dealing with neck stiffness against the White Sox (17-18), Soriano was looking for vindication.
His vindication might have to wait until next year.
His performance tonight was even more troubling then it was last week, lasting a season low 4 innings and giving up a season high 5 runs, with 3 walks, 8 hits and striking out 5 batters.
"It's a little bit tough facing the same team," Soriano said when asked about the challenges of facing the same team in back-to-back starts. "They've already seen what you've got, but we had to continue to battle, and that's what I did. I don't have the result, but I battled to the end."
There's a reason Soriano was awared the pitcher of the month title for the American League. This year, he's looked like Superman on the mound for the Angels, a team that is looking for its first true ace since Jered Weaver last pitched for the club in 2016.
Coming into tonight, Soriano had a 0.84 ERA with 49 strikeouts, giving up only 4 runs, and pitching with a 5-1 record.
But tonight, the Soriano finally looked human.
His night began with him walking the first two batters he faced, showing early command struggles.
In an early jam, Soriano couldn't escape when he gave up back-to-back singles to Chase Meidroth and Andrew Benintendi to put the White Sox up 2-0.
Soriano got the next batter he faced to fly out to end the inning, but didn't look like himself on the mound. He and Suzuki, however, would say otherwise.
"When guys are barreling you up, it looks like you're trying to find mechanically," Suzuki said. "I really don't think anything. ...I think he was just doing his best to go out there and give us his best start."
Soriano said following the game that his neck injury from last week did not bother him during tonight's performance.
After the first was over, Soriano's command issues started to become a thing of the past as he only walked one more batter.
Soriano adjusted on the mound after a rocky start, giving up two more hits and one walk between the second and third innings. But the fourth would knock him out of the game.
With one out in the inning and a runner on first, Soriano was in his second jam of the night. The result was the same, except this time, it was back-to-back homers instead of back-to-back singles.
"I just had one of those days. We couldn't control the strike zone," Soriano said.
Earlier today, Aaron Judge got ahead of Munetaka Murakami for the MLB lead in home runs by hitting home run No.14 against the Baltimore Orioles in the first inning for a two-run shot.
Judge's lead lasted only a few hours after Murakami hit a no-doubter over the center field wall for a two-run shot as well. White Sox third baseman Miguel Vargas followed Murakami's lead by hitting a solo shot right after to make it 5-0.
The only team to get the better of José Soriano this year is the Chicago White Sox. Munetaka Murakami takes him deep in the fourth for a two-run homer. Miguel Vargas follows up with a solo shot in the next at-bat.
— Thomas Murray (@Thomas_L_Murray) May 5, 2026
Soriano has given up 8 hits and 5 runs.pic.twitter.com/0xqPvQOJvC
After the two homers, Soriano calmed things down on the mound and struck out the next two batters to pick up his sixth strikeout of the game.
After Soriano came out, he was replaced by Mitch Farris.
Farris went four innings in relief tonight and threw 58 total pitches while giving up only 1 run. A solid performance when you look at it that way. But when you consider the journey it took to get there, he gave up 7 hits between the fifth and eighth innings.
Between Soriano, Farris, and Brent Suter, who came in to pitch in the 9th inning, the White Sox lineup imposed its will against the Angels, who gave up 16 total hits.
As he pitched deeper into the evening, Farris began to show fatigue and found himself in jams.
With two outs in the seventh, Farris was ready to have a 1-2-3 inning. That was until he gave up back-to-back hits. The White Sox had Randal Grichuk pinch hit in place of Tristan Peters, and Farris managed to get him to line out.
In the next inning, Farris retired the first two batters again. And again, the White Sox had back-to-back hitters get on base. This time, Chicago capitalized on Farris' mistakes when Colson Montgomery singled towards right to score Murakami from third.