ANAHEIM – Jose Soriano might be having a breakout year for the Angels. But Justin Wrobleski is having a break-in year – barging into the Dodgers’ rotation and making himself at home.
With both Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow sidelined, Wrobleski’s status has become more secure. Starts like Saturday’s ensure that. The Dodgers’ left-hander outpitched Soriano and the Dodgers pulled away to beat the Angels for the second night in a row, 15-2.
The game was a 1-0 pitcher’s duel through five innings but got wacky after that. Their fourth consecutive win was a walk in the park for the Dodgers – they had just three hits through the first seven innings but walked nine times in the game and scored nine runs in the final two innings against the Angels’ bullpen (five on RBIs by Shohei Ohtani).
It was a familiar outcome for the Angels who might have found an ace for their rotation in Soriano but are still searching for an offense. Over their past 25 games – a stretch that includes only five wins – they have scored an MLB-low 72 runs, two or fewer 16 times (including seven of their past eight, all losses).
The Dodgers managed just one hit off Soriano – a single by Freddie Freeman in the first inning that set up a sacrifice fly by Will Smith for their first run. But they drew six walks off Soriano and including four in the sixth inning when the Angels unraveled – for the first but not last time in the game.
Ohtani grounded out to start the sixth inning. Soriano threw 23 pitches to the next five Dodgers’ batters. Only six found the strike zone. Four walks and a hit batter added two runs to the Dodgers’ total. When reliever Chase Silseth replaced Soriano, he forced in another run when he hit Teoscar Hernandez with a pitch. Alex Call followed with a ground ball through the left side of the infield for a two-run single and a five-run inning.
To that point, Wrobleski had held the Angels scoreless thanks in part to a diving catch by Andy Pages that ended the fourth inning with a runner on third.
The Angels got to Wrobleski in the sixth inning, stringing together an infield single from Zach Neto, a double by Jorge Soler and a two-run double by Jo Adell. It is only the second time in seven starts that Wrobleski has yielded multiple runs. But those two have come in his most recent starts, plumping his ERA as a starter up to 2.12.
Wrobleski found his way through the rest of that inning without further damage, completing at least six innings for the sixth consecutive start.
The game devolved from there.
The Dodgers scored four runs in the eighth inning, including a two-run triple by Ohtani that bounced off the netting in foul territory down the right-field line. Ohtani kept going and scored on an error by Adell on the relay and Mookie Betts followed with a home run.
The Dodgers scored five more times in a ninth inning featuring another Angels error and a three-run double by Ohtani.
The loss was just the Angels’ third in 10 starts by Soriano this season – but they are 9-27 when anyone else starts.