CINCINNATI — So far this season, José Soriano is leaving a trail of frustrated hitters.
One after another has trudged back to the dugout after a strikeout or a weak ground ball or popout.
The Angels’ right-hander pitched another seven scoreless innings, and the Angels’ hitters produced a steady stream of offense, in a 9-6 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday.
The Angels had a 9-0 lead before the bullpen and defense combined to spoil an otherwise perfect afternoon, giving up six runs in the final two innings. Right-handers Sam Bachman and Nick Sandlin and left-hander Drew Pomeranz all gave up runs before Pomeranz recorded the final out.
None of that detracted from Soriano’s gem, though.
Soriano (4-0) leads the majors with an 0.33 ERA, and he’s the first pitcher to reach four victories. He is also leading the majors with 31 strikeouts. In 27 innings, he’s allowed just nine hits and nine walks.
Soriano is the first pitcher since Max Fried in 2023, with the Atlanta Braves, to start the season by allowing one run or fewer in at least 20 innings over his first four starts. It’s only happened eight times this century. The last pitcher to throw at least 27 innings, allowing no more than one run, in his first four starts was Zack Greinke in 2009.
“I’d be here for a while if I said all the good things about him so far this year,” catcher Logan O’Hoppe said. “It’s been a lot of fun.”
On Sunday, he gave up just two singles, striking out 10 and walking three. He threw 106 relatively stress-free pitches. He only faced one batter with a runner in scoring position, and he struck him out.
“I think all my pitches were working today, but I think the key for today was because I was filling the zone,” Soriano said. “I was attacking the strike zone early, so I think that was the key for today.”
Soriano threw a first-pitch strike to 65% of the hitters he faced. He never threw more than 21 pitches in an inning.
“He kind of came as advertised,” Reds manager Terry Francona said. “He’s high 90s, two-seam movement, breaking ball, changeup or split. And then his four-seam every once in a while up high. He’s pretty impressive.”
Soriano also didn’t throw a pitch with less than a three-run lead, which added to the impression that he was casually cruising through the afternoon.
“It looked like he was so calm,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “Just like another day at the park. It was pretty incredible, really. There was no panic. There was no high stress. It just looked like he was in control the whole time.”
Besides Soriano’s stuff, he had the benefit of the support of a lineup that had its second textbook performance in three games this weekend.
The Angels (8-8) had 10 hits and nine walks, with three strikeouts. On Friday night, they had 10 hits, eight walks and seven strikeouts.
The first inning on Sunday was a classic example of what can happen when you put the ball in play. The Angels scored three runs on four singles, none of them hit particularly hard.
Mike Trout’s single was a blooper, and Vaughn Grissom’s was a ground ball that shortstop Elly De La Cruz stopped. All three runs came on two-out hits from Nolan Schanuel and Logan O’Hoppe.
In the second inning, the Angels turned a walk, two hits and a sacrifice fly into two more runs. They scored three runs on outs, and one on a bases-loaded walk.
The Angels’ only homer was an Oswald Peraza solo shot in the fourth inning.
“We attacked our game plan early and often,” O’Hoppe said. “Even with some good pitches on the edges, I feel like we took some good swings on them and collectively had a good approach. A good day for sure.”