The Los Angeles Angels staked Jose Soriano to a 3-0 lead, but the bullpen blew the shutout and forced a late rally.
The Los Angeles Angels turned a five-inning shutout start by Jose Soriano into a late-game adventure, but they rediscovered their lost offensive mojo to break open a 3-3 tie and beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-3, to salvage the last game of the three-game set. The win ended the Halos’ four-game losing streak, and it also ended a six-game losing streak against the Jays.
This one started out as a “normal” Soriano start, as he pitched five shutout innings to further lower his ERA to 0.24. Soriano also extended his he extended his scoreless streak to 24-2/3 innings, and he now has the lowest ERA ever of any pitcher for his first six starts. In addition, he’s the first pitcher ever to give up just one run in his first six starts, according to the Angels broadcast crew.
He wasn’t nearly as dominant in this one, though, as the Blue Jays have been hacking early and often against the Halos. Soriano had to scatter seven hits, all of them singles, although only Andres Giminez made it into scoring position after getting hit by a pitch.
The Angels gave Soriano a cushion, too, starting with a run-scoring sacrifice fly from Jo Adell in the third inning after singles by Logan O’Hoppe and Bryce Teodosio. The home run then returned to the Angels arsenal as Nolan Schanuel hit his third of the year in the fourth to make it 2-0, and Mike Trout followed suit with his eighth home run in the fifth to make it 3-0. It was also Trout’s first homer of the season at Angels Stadium, so the home fans got to see this aspect of his remarkable resurgence.
It didn’t take long for the bullpen to blow the early lead, however. The mess started with Ryan Zeferjahn’s second straight inning of relief in the seventh, as he quickly gave up a walk to Kazuma Okamoto followed by a double to Andres Giminez. That sent Suzuki racing to the mount to remove Zeferjahn, but Chase Silseth couldn’t stop the bleeding as he gave up and RBI groundout to Tyler Heineman, then RBI hits to Nathan Lukes and Ernie Clement that tied the game at 3-3.
But it was Trout who quickly led an impressive four-run rally by walking and stealing a base with one out. Jo Adell singled Trout to third, and after a Jorge Soler strikeout, pinch hitter Yoan Moncada walked.
Schanuel then delivered his second big hit of the game, an opposite-field three-run double that brought home three runs. Vaughn Grissom dumped a single to short right on a ball that was misplayed by Clement at second base that scored Schanuel to make it 7-3 .
As a footnote, it was the 39th time Trout has combined a home run and a steal in a single game, a number that’s only been exceeded by Ricky Henderson and Alex Rodrguez.
Brent Suter followed with a shutout eighth to keep the lead intact and notch the win, and Suzuki risked bringing erstwhile closer Jordan Romano in for the ninth. Romano gave up a pair of hits, but he struck out two hitters and made it through the inning to close out the win.
The Angels get a much-needed off day tomorrow, and after that they head to Kansas City for a three-game series against the Royals.