ANAHEIM — José Soriano came into Friday night’s game riding the momentum of back-to-back scoreless outings, including arguably the best game of his career.
That came to a crashing end quickly.
Soriano walked the bases loaded in the first inning on his way to giving up eight runs in the Angels’ 10-4 loss to the Athletics.
“It seemed like he was just a little bit off,” interim manager Ray Montgomery said. “A lot off, excuse me.”
Soriano’s season has been an inexplicable rollercoaster, in which he’s looked either dominant or awful, with few games in between.
“This is baseball,” Soriano said through an interpreter. “These things happen. You can have your best outing, and then things happen like today. The only thing I have to do is keep working and stay positive.”
Last week Soriano pitched twice on the Angels’ 10-game trip, shutting out the Texas Rangers over 5⅔ innings and then blanking the Houston Astros on just one hit over seven innings.
Soriano walked only four hitters in those two games, and he equaled that seven batters into Friday’s game. He finished with five walks.
He was fortunate to get out of the first allowing only two runs, even though he threw 28 pitches and 10 were strikes. And then the Angels came right back in the bottom of the inning with four runs against Athletics right-hander Mason Barnett, who was making the second start of his career.
Still leading 4-2 in the third, Soriano absolutely fell apart.
Soriano retired only one of the seven hitters he faced in the inning, including JJ Bleday’s three-run homer on a sinker over the middle of the plate.
It was the eighth time this season that Soriano has allowed at least five runs, including four times when he’s allowed at least seven runs.
His ERA for the season is still only 4.07 because of how good he’s been in the other games.
Montgomery said Soriano needs to learn how to minimize the damage on the days when his stuff isn’t sharp.
“The guys that are going to take that next step to the level we want him to be, and think he can be, find ways to do it,” Montgomery said. “Whether it’s efficiency, whether it’s pitch mix, whether it’s staying a little bit more unpredictable based on how you’re feeling – because only you know how the ball feels coming out of your hand more than anybody. Obviously, he’s still got some growth to do there.”
The Angels (66-75) have tried to unlock whatever happens mentally with Soriano to keep him from getting out of trouble when things go sideways, including having him talk to Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez.
It’s also fair to wonder if Soriano is getting worn down after throwing 163⅔ innings. In 2023, he was a reliever and pitched 65⅓ innings in the minors and majors. Last season, his first as a full-time starter, he pitched 113 innings.
After Soriano was done, the Angels got their first look at right-hander José Ureña, who is with his fifth team this season. Ureña pitched five scoreless innings, allowing just two hits.
Ureña gave the Angels’ hitters a chance to get back in the game, which didn’t seem unrealistic considering Barnett’s first inning. But the Angels only had one hit against Barnett over the next four innings.
“Not good,” Montgomery said. “A little lackluster in that regard.”
Mike Trout struck out twice, walked and was hit by a pitch, which extended his home run drought to 23 games. That equals the second-longest drought of his career, and it is the second-longest within a single season. He went 27 games without a homer in 2015.
Trout has been struck on 398 career homers since Aug. 6.