Soriano retires 20 in a row, Adell mashes 2 homers in Halos' win

TORONTO -- After two straight tough outings against the White Sox, right-hander José Soriano got back on track against the Blue Jays and the offense finally broke out to avoid a three-game sweep.

Soriano threw 7 2/3 strong innings, allowing just one run on five hits, while Jo Adell homered twice and Oswald Peraza also went deep to lift the Angels to a 6-1 win on Sunday afternoon at Rogers Centre. It snapped a streak of eight straight road losses for the Angels, as they went 0-6 on their last road trip and dropped the first two games of the series.

Here’s what stood out from the victory:

Soriano looks like an ace again
Soriano got off to a historic start to his season, posting a minuscule 0.24 ERA through his first six starts before he scuffled in two outings against the White Sox. He allowed three runs over five innings while dealing with neck stiffness in Chicago on April 28 and gave up five runs over four frames against them on Monday.

But Soriano was back to his dominant self against the Blue Jays despite a shaky first inning. He struck out seven and walked just one to improve to 6-2 with a 1.66 ERA in nine outings this year.

“I had a little trouble in the first inning, but after that I just turned the page and kept attacking the strike zone,” Soriano said. “I don’t think about what happened in the past.”

In the first, he wasn’t helped by the defense, as a comebacker from Daulton Varsho hit off his glove and to shortstop Zach Neto, who took too long to get the throw to first on what was ruled an infield single. It led to a run eventually scoring on an RBI double from Kazuma Okamoto with two outs.

But Soriano settled down from there, retiring 20 in a row before Myles Straw reached on an infield single with one out in the eighth. He exited with the bases loaded in the eighth, but reliever Sam Bachman got Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to ground out to third to end the inning.

Soriano’s velocity was a bit down from his season average, but he mixed in his four-seamer more than usual and recorded eleven outs via the air and five on grounders.

Peraza/Grissom continue to crush lefties
The Angels continue to mostly play Yoán Moncada and Adam Frazier against right-handers, but with the Blue Jays going with lefty Eric Lauer as their bulk pitcher on Sunday, both Oswald Peraza and Vaughn Grissom got the start.

The Blue Jays used two right-handed relievers to start the game and throw four scoreless innings, but the Angels capitalized once Lauer came in for the fifth inning.

Peraza got the Angels on the board with a go-ahead two-run homer, which was his fifth of the season. And Grissom came through with a two-run double to right field before getting caught in a rundown between second and third that ended the inning.

Grissom has slashed .286/.353/.429 against lefties while Peraza has fared even better, batting .326/.356/.651 with four homers against southpaws.

Peraza and Grissom should get plenty of playing time over the next week, as four of the next five starters they’re set to face against the Guardians and Dodgers are left-handed.

Adell finally rewarded with pair of homers
Jo Adell had been hitting the ball hard seemingly all weekend but without much to show for it outside of a double and a single on Friday. But Adell crushed a solo homer to right field off Lauer in the sixth to give the Angels an insurance run. And he added a second solo blast in the ninth and absolutely crushed it a projected 449 feet with an exit velocity of 114.5 mph, per Statcast.

Adell has improved his defense and is hitting for a better average this year but has six homers this season, so he hasn’t displayed the power he did last year when he hit 37 homers. Adell, though, can be a streaky hitter, so maybe this homer can get him going in the power department. He’s also crushed lefties, with a 1.090 OPS against them this year, so the upcoming lefty-heavy stretch favors him.

“It’s kind of been in like battle mode for a month of getting hits and being productive but not hitting for a bit more power,” Adell said. “But I figured some things out in the cage. Just kind of getting that feel back to where I was last year.”