DETROIT — The Angels have enlisted the help of Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez in an effort to get the best of José Soriano.
It seems that Soriano has absorbed the first lesson. His start against the Dodgers on Monday will give him a chance to show if he’s learned the second.
Pitching coach Barry Enright, who connected Martinez and Soriano, said he wanted Martinez to help Soriano’s mental approach.
“I talked to Pedro and said ‘Hey, I want you teach him how to have a little bit more bulldog,’” Enright said. “He’s gotten that piece. The piece now is to how to peel back when you need to.”
Soriano first talked to Martinez — a fellow Dominican — a few weeks ago. He had a 2.25 ERA over a three-start stretch, and then he was on his way to another strong outing on Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Rays. He started the game with three scoreless innings.
In the fourth, though, he gave up seven runs on seven hits.
It was that inning that demonstrated to Enright that Soriano had not correctly interpreted what it means to be a “bulldog.”
“I’m gonna fill up the strike zone,” Enright said. “That’s the bulldog mentality. But that doesn’t mean I always have to do it so hard.”
Enright said Soriano was shaking off pitches and wanted to rely on his 98 mph sinker, instead of using his other pitches, during that inning.
“He accidentally hooked a splitter into (Josh) Lowe and he pulled it down the line (for a double) and then (Soriano) abandoned it,” Enright said. “He went hard, hard, hard, hard, hard. That’s the next phase for Soriano. In those moments, when guys are coming up, they don’t want to get to those nasty offspeed pitches. They want to get on him early. Now he can peel back a little bit. That’s the next lesson for a young starter. How do you pitch? How do you have the bulldog mentality but also do that while pitching.”
Interim manager Ray Montgomery said that Martinez was an expert at finding that balance.
“One of the underrated aspects of Pedro’s career was as much power as he had, he had precision and could pitch too, maybe better than anybody ever,” Montgomery said. “I think Sori has that capability. He just has to be able to harness in the moment, and be able to step off the gas as much as he wants to step on it.”
Soriano’s next jam will allow him to demonstrate if he’s made the adjustment. Soriano was not available to discuss his talks with Martinez because he left Detroit before his teammates, in order to prepare for Monday’s start.
IN A GROOVE
Left-hander Brock Burke was right when he felt a mechanical change in May was helping him to turn the corner.
Burke has a 1.13 ERA over his last 37 games. For the season, Burke has a 2.94 ERA in a league-leading 56 games.
“Sometimes I’ll struggle in the beginning of the year, when haven’t been playing very much,” Burke said. “I can find a rhythm from pitching a bunch. I know some people don’t like it, but kind of gets my mind mentally sound, and able to slow the game down a little bit more when I’m pitching a lot.”
Burke said his slider has been better this year, which has also helped him be more effective against lefties. Burke had reverse splits the past two years, but this season he’s held lefties to a .235 average.
NOTES
Center fielder Bryce Teodosio returned to the lineup on Sunday. He left Friday’s game after hitting his head against the fence while making a catch. He was also out Saturday. “Just trying to be cautious about it and make sure we didn’t have any concussion or whatever,” Teodosio said. “Feeling a lot better.” …
Closer Kenley Jansen has not allowed an earned run in 20 consecutive appearances, which is the longest active streak in the majors and 10th longest streak in Angels history.
UP NEXT
Dodgers (RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 10-7, 2.51) at Angels (RHP José Soriano, 7-9, 4.01), Monday, 6:38 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network West, 830 AM