ANAHEIM — José Soriano has spent the season tantalizing the Angels with how good he can be and puzzling them with how bad he can be.
He was both in the Angels’ 13-1 loss to the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night, a game so ugly that infielder Kevin Newman pitched the final three innings.
Soriano began the game with three scoreless, hitless innings. In the fourth, he gave up five runs on three walks and three hits. He didn’t return for the fifth.
“The interesting part today was in the bullpen, talking to (pitching coach Barry Enright), when he came down with him, everything was working really well,” interim manager Ray Montgomery said. “He was pounding the zone with all the pitches. And then we saw glimpses of it early. I think the consistency piece is the biggest key. And he knows that. He just has to continue to stay on the attack. I think today we saw a little bit just getting out of the zone.”
Soriano’s bad fourth inning was pretty much the ballgame on a night when the Angels had to deal with Rangers ace Nathan Eovaldi. He dropped his ERA to 1.62 by allowing one unearned run in six innings.
As for Soriano, his ERA now stands at an even 4.00 after 19 starts and 108 innings. Last season he had a 3.42 ERA in 113 innings.
Including Tuesday’s game, Soriano has had four starts this season in which he’s allowed at least five runs and failed to make it through five innings. His ERA in those starts is 15.00.
In his other 15 starts, he has a 2.23 ERA. That includes six games in which he worked at least six innings without allowing an earned run.
His last time out, he pitched seven scoreless innings against the Atlanta Braves.
“It’s baseball,” Soriano said through an interpreter. “It’s part of the game. There are a lot of hitters that struggle, a lot of pitchers that struggle. Just fight through, fight through, and then keep your mind straight and positive.”
Soriano said he hasn’t lost any faith in himself.
“I always have confidence, 100%,” he said. “I never lost it. It’s just things that happen. Keep fighting and keep working.”
When Soriano is off his game, walks can be a problem. The five walks he issued on Tuesday night were a season high.
Soriano walked the first hitter of the game, Josh Smith. Then, however, he did what he does best. He erased Smith with a double play, his major league-leading 20th of the season.
Soriano worked around another leadoff walk in the second, with three straight ground balls.
And in the third, he struck out three hitters in a row, showing signs that it could truly be a special night for him if he could get both strikeouts and ground balls.
The fourth was a nightmare, though.
Soriano walked three of the first four hitters of the inning, with the only out coming on a sliding catch from right fielder LaMonte Wade Jr.
Wyatt Langford then yanked a ground ball just inside the third base line, for a two-run double. It was the Rangers’ first hit of the night.
Evan Carter, a left-handed hitter, then hit an opposite-field pop-up down the left field line. Left fielder Taylor Ward couldn’t get to it, and it hit the chalk for a double that scored two more runs.
The Rangers ended up with five in the inning, and it took a diving stab by third baseman Yoán Moncada to finally stop the bleeding.
That was all for Soriano.
It was a bad night for Soriano to have a bad night, because the Angels’ bullpen needed some rest after four straight one-run games, including two extra-inning games.
Left-hander Sam Aldegheri, just up from Double-A to provide some bullpen coverage, could only get through two innings. He needed 42 pitches to get through the fifth, and 22 more for the sixth. Aldegheri gave up five runs, including four walks.
Montgomery said he was aware that an outing like that could have an effect on Aldegheri’s confidence.
“Of course,” he said. “Anytime you don’t have success at the major league level, regardless of your status, it affects your psyche. It affects how you feel. Certainly it’ll affect your confidence. But I think that’s part of the growth too. You have to learn from it and bounce back and go forward.”
At that point, the game was lost and the Angels opted to make sure the rest of their relievers still got the night off, so they turned to Newman. He essentially threw the Rangers batting practice until they got themselves out nine times, scoring three runs in between. Newman gave up two homers.
Montgomery said he appreciated the 30 pitches Newman threw to save the bullpen.
“That’s not a small ask,” Montgomery said. “We talked about that too, talking about protecting him. He’ll be sore tomorrow too. With 30 pitches over three innings, he did a huge job for us tonight.”