Soriano's dominant start unravels after losing command 

ANAHEIM -- It looked just like José Soriano's last start against the Blue Jays that saw him give up an early run, only to lock in and turn in another dominant performance.

But this time, despite retiring 16 out of 17 batters after giving a run in the opening frame, Soriano inexplicably lost his command in the sixth inning of an eventual 15-2 loss to the rival Dodgers on Saturday in the Freeway Series at Angel Stadium. Soriano walked four in the inning and hit another with all five batters coming around to score in a lopsided inning that put the game away, as the Angels fell to 5-20 after their last 25 games.

Soriano had an incredibly unusual line, as he allowed just one hit in 5 1/3 innings, a single to Mookie Betts in the first, but walked a career-high six batters and hit another to get charged with a season-high six runs. It caused his ERA to jump from 1.66 to 2.41 in 10 outings this year.

“Everything was good up until that moment, but then I struggled with the command,” Soriano said. “A lot of walks. It is what it is. There’s nothing we can do about it. Just try to be ready for the next time.”

Through five innings, Soriano appeared in control, as he only surrendered a run in the first inning on a sacrifice fly from Will Smith and the only batters to reach against him were Shohei Ohtani, who walked twice, and Betts with his single to left in the first that advanced Ohtani to third.

But after he got Ohtani to ground out to open the top of the sixth, things started to unravel for Soriano. He walked Betts and Freddie Freeman on five pitches each before he hit Smith with a knuckle-curveball that loaded the bases and also hit off catcher Logan O’Hoppe’s groin area.

O’Hoppe, though, remained in the game after an injury delay, but Soriano’s wildness continued. He walked Andy Pages on six pitches to bring in a run before issuing a free pass to Max Muncy on five pitches. It was the last batter for Soriano, who threw 92 pitches with only 48 going for strikes.

“It was close pitches, they just weren't chasing,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “They do a good job over there of kind of zoning in and making you throw the ball over the plate.”

Right-hander Chase Silseth was brought in to try to clean up the mess, but hit Teoscar Hernández with a two-strike splitter to plate another run before giving up a two-run single to Alex Call. All five runs in the inning were charged to Soriano.

Issuing walks has been an issue for Soriano in the past, as he had a 10.8% walk rate last season, but lowered it to 9.3% heading into his start against the Dodgers. It’s now up to 10.9%, and the league average is roughly 9% this year, so it’s something he’ll have to remedy going forward even with his improved ability to generate swings and misses and get strikeouts. He struck out six and registered 16 whiffs, but needs to be able to locate better in the zone against disciplined offenses.

“I just have to forget what happened today and just focus and keep working on whatever I need to work on right now,” Soriano said. “Just try to find a way to go back and not do the same thing in the next one.”

Suzuki said he thinks Soriano could be trying to do too much, especially with the offense struggling over the last month. They scored just twice on Saturday, with Jo Adell hitting a two-run double, after being shut out in Friday’s opener.

“I think that's human nature,” Suzuki said. “If you're not scoring runs, you kind of feel like you have to make the perfect pitch, which against that team and in that situation, it's probably not ideal.”

Soriano, however, wasn’t the only Angels pitcher to struggle, as right-hander Alek Manoah gave up nine runs (eight earned) over just 1 1/3 innings and couldn’t get out of the ninth inning, causing infielder Adam Frazier to pitch. Manoah could be a candidate to be designated for assignment after his rough outing.

“I think it was his command,” Suzuki said. “It was either a ball or down the middle of the plate with some good swings. It was just a tough one.”