Soriano shakes off 1st inning comebacker in scoreless start

ANAHEIM -- Right-hander José Soriano shook off a comebacker that hit off his upper right chest in the first inning to get through five scoreless frames against the Rays on Saturday, but exited after throwing just 76 pitches.

After walking Yandy Díaz on seven pitches to open the game, Soriano threw a first-pitch sinker to Jonathan Aranda, who lined it back off Soriano’s chest near his right shoulder. Soriano recovered to throw out Aranda at first base and remained in the game after throwing a few warmup pitches.

Soriano got out of the early jam by getting Cedric Mullins to ground out to short before striking out Junior Caminero with a 3-2 knuckle-curve out of the zone. It set the tone for a strong showing from Soriano, who scattered three hits and two walks with five strikeouts in an 8-0 win over the Rays on Saturday night at Angel Stadium. Soriano improved to 8-4 with a 2.79 ERA in 15 starts, while the Angels have now won 12 of their last 20 games.

Soriano said he was physically fine but sustained a minor tweak in his leg while trying to avoid the comebacker, which also affected him.

“It feels good,” Soriano said. “I wanted to go deeper, but after the issue I had in the first inning, it was tough to go farther than that, but I'm glad that I could at least take it to the fifth inning. It hit me right there in the chest but the problem was my leg. A little sore and getting tight every inning.”

But Soriano's velocity was down, and he uncharacteristically avoided throwing his sinker, as he threw it just nine times compared to 25 splitters, 22 knuckle-curves and 17 four-seamers. His pitches were all roughly 1.5 mph lower than his season average. But he used a splitter to induce a double play from Díaz to end his night in the fifth.

Manager Kurt Suzuki was impressed with the way Soriano battled and believed that five innings was more than enough from him, as they wanted to be smart about it. Soriano is expected to make his next start as scheduled.

“We wanted to be cautious,” Suzuki said. “It was smoked right off his chest, his right side. Didn't want to take chances. He gave us five good innings and it felt like that was the right time to get him out of there.”

He didn’t get much help from the offense early, as the Angels scored just once against right-hander Griffin Jax through five frames before pouring it on late. Jo Adell ripped a two-out RBI double in the fourth and scored on an error, as shortstop Taylor Walls couldn’t handle a hard-hit grounder from Nolan Schanuel.

After Soriano departed, he was aided by a pair of rookies who came through in big moments. Lefty Samy Natera Jr., making just his third career appearance, threw two scoreless innings with two strikeouts in relief to bridge the gap to veterans Brent Suter and Kirby Yates.

“That was pretty awesome,” Suzuki said. “He came in, attacked with a lot of confidence, and then Suter and Yates followed as veteran guys coming in and throwing strikes.”

Rookie third baseman Denzer Guzman delivered a two-run single with two outs in the sixth on a 1-2 fastball from veteran Craig Kimbrel. Guzman then stole second base and scored on a double from Donovan Walton, as the Angels plated three critical insurance runs with two outs in the inning.

“The offense was really manufacturing runs,” Suzuki said. “Just line drives, good at-bats. Guzzy with a huge two-strike knock, putting the ball in play, giving himself a chance. And guys just grinding at-bats.”

They added four more runs in the seventh, keyed by a two-run homer from Jose Siri against his former team before Guzman and Walton connected on back-to-back RBI singles with two outs. Of their eight runs, six were scored with two outs.

“All the way through the lineup, everybody was convicted to a plan and really finding a way to execute all the way through,” said Adell, who went 4-for-5. “There were really no holes all the way through. This is one of the most complete games I've been a part of, just offensively, defensively, pitching, just awesome.”