SEATTLE – Considering the crisp air drifting through T-Mobile Park on Tuesday night, one could have mistaken it for an April evening in the Pacific Northwest rather than late June.
The Los Angeles Angels surely wish it was April, too, when José Soriano was pitching like one of baseball’s best pitchers through his first six starts.
The 27-year-old started on a historic run in March/April that earned him American League Pitcher of the Month honors. He went 5-1 while allowing one run over 37 2/3 innings. His historic start to the season featured a 25 2/3-inning scoreless streak, while his 0.24 ERA was the lowest ERA in a pitcher's first six starts of a season since earned runs became official in both leagues in 1913 (min. 30 IP).
Once the calendar flipped to May, it’s been a run of clunkers.
After lasting just three innings and allowing six hits and five runs against Baltimore on June 24, Soriano entered Tuesday with a 5.33 ERA, 53 strikeouts and 32 walks over 52 1/3 innings in his previous 10 starts.
But against the Mariners in an 8-3 loss to drop the Angels to 36-51, Soriano delivered the last-place Angels a promising performance and a step back in the right direction – at least for five innings.
Soriano carried a shutout into the sixth before three consecutive singles brought home a run and ended his night. Reliever Chase Silseth couldn’t escape the jam, allowing the Mariners to rally for five runs, with three credited to Soriano.
Still, it represented progress.
“Everything looked crisper,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “He was executing his pitches a lot better – lower in the zone.”
Soriano struck out nine and walked one on 91 pitches. After needing 24 pitches to get through the first inning, yielding a walk and single, he seemed destined for another short outing. But he settled in.
Soriano fanned five batters through the first two innings and after striking out J.P. Crawford on 11 pitches to start the third, Soriano quickly induced two groundouts on two pitches. It took him only 11 pitches to get through the fourth, and 16 in the fifth.
Soriano said afterwards that he’s been intentional with his mechanics.
“Because I was working on my mechanics, it fixed all the little troubles I have had in the past,” he said.
Soriano turned to the knuckle curve more frequently than usual, throwing it 31% of the time compared to his season average of 25%. The pitch generated 10 whiffs, too.
Catcher Logan O'Hoppe noticed how well he was delivering the pitch prior to the game, and Soriano said he was a lot more comfortable with it.
“Even in the bullpen I noticed it was pretty good,” O’Hoppe said. “He’s got five different weapons, so when one of them is on, I tend to lean on it.”
Soriano, who took a comebacker off his upper right chest in a start on June 13 that ended his outing on just 79 pitches, felt fine even with his pitch count rising in the sixth.
“I felt strong the whole game,” Soriano said.
The Angels offense provided no support for Soriano as Seattle’s Bryan Woo kept them scoreless into the seventh inning, before the Halos pushed across three runs against the Mariners bullpen. Los Angeles cut the deficit to two after Zach Neto’s two-run single, but Seattle scored three more in the bottom of the seventh.