ANAHEIM — José Soriano pitched five scoreless innings and it was his worst start of the season.
Even though Soriano looked somewhat mortal in what has been a sensational start to his season, and even though the bullpen cost him a victory, Nolan Schanuel helped make sure the Angels could still celebrate.
Schanuel drove in four runs, including a three-run double with two outs in the eighth, and the Angels beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-3, on Wednesday, snapping their four-game losing streak.
Mike Trout added his eighth home run of the season, and his first at home.
The Angels are 12-14 and half of their victories have come on the days when Soriano started.
Soriano has an 0.24 ERA. Soriano is the first traditional starter in major league history – not an opener – to allow one or fewer runs through his first six starts of the season. He has given up one run in 37⅔ innings, with 43 strikeouts and 13 walks.
Soriano has allowed only 18 hits, and seven of them came on Wednesday. He hadn’t allowed more than three in any previous game. He’d also gotten into the sixth inning or deeper in all of his other starts.
On Wednesday, the Blue Jays put their leadoff man on base in four of his five innings, and the second hitter on base in the other. Soriano threw almost all of his pitches with someone on base.
His velocity was also down slightly, across the board. Soriano was also making his second straight start with the minimum of four days of rest.
All of that likely led Manager Kurt Suzuki to pull Soriano after 84 pitches in five innings. That left four innings for a bullpen that has struggled lately.
Right-hander Ryan Zeferjahn got through the sixth but returned to the mound in the seventh. He issued a one-out walk and gave up a double to Andres Gimenez. Chase Silseth got a ground ball, pushing home one run. He then allowed two straight hits, tying the game, 3-3, and costing Soriano a victory.
But in the bottom of the seventh, the Angels got all of those runs back.
Trout walked and Jo Adell singled. With two outs, Yoán Moncada drew a walk to load the bases for Schanuel.
Schanuel, who earlier in the game had hit his first homer since March 28, lifted a fly ball down the left field line. It dropped for a double, with all three runs scoring.
It was redemption for Schanuel a day after he hit into a game-ending double play when the Angels had the tying run in scoring position.
Schanuel then came around to score on Bryce Teodosio’s bloop single.
Schanuel had seen his average drop to .200 on the last trip. While seemingly everyone else on the team was on fire, he was cold. On the homestand, it’s been reversed. Schanuel has hit .364 with a .991 OPS.
More to come on this story.