Angels right-handed pitcher José Soriano has dominated the rest of baseball, but the Chicago White Sox lineup has now hit him hard twice.
Los Angeles Angels right-hander José Soriano has been one of the most dominant pitchers in Major League Baseball this season.
The 27-year-old Dominican starter had a 3.93 ERA across the 2024 and 2025 seasons as an emerging arm in the Angels' rotation, but he's clearly turned a corner in 2026. Through his first six outings this season, Soriano has thrown 37.2 innings, allowing just one run on 18 hits while striking out 43. That gave him an ERA of 0.24 and a record of 5-0.
Even more impressive is the fact that his Angels, a mediocre team at best that has been hindered by a lack of starting pitching in the past, are 6-0 in games when Soriano takes the ball.
Had you asked me a week ago, I would have told you that José Soriano was the early favorite to win the AL Cy Young Award and a lock for the AL All-Star roster. And even now, he's in the 98th percentile in pitching run value and the 92nd percentile in whiff rate. But the Chicago White Sox really seem to have his number.
Last week, the White Sox hosted the Angels at Rate Field. They swept the series, including a 5-2 win in Game 2 with Davis Martin and Soriano facing off. There was a rematch of that pitching matchup on Monday evening as the White Sox and Angels kicked off a new three-game series, this time in Los Angeles.
It was the same result both times, with Davis Martin dominating the Angels lineup while the White Sox got to Soriano and chased him from the game early.
Last week, it was an early home run from shortstop Colson Montgomery that got the White Sox on the board, and a two-run shot from Drew Romo that put them on top 3-1 and knocked Soriano out after five innings. Romo added another home run against the Angels' bullpen that helped the White Sox preserve the lead and come away with a 5-2 victory.
On Monday night in Los Angeles, it was all White Sox. RBI singles from Chase Meidroth and Andrew Benintendi in the top of the first gave the White Sox the lead and helped them cash in on some early walks as Soriano struggled to find his control. Then Munetaka Murakami and Miguel Vargas did what they do best, hitting back-to-back home runs off Soriano in the fourth to give the White Sox a 5-0 lead.
Soriano had thrown 88 pitches through four innings and was pulled from the game early, while Davis Martin delivered seven scoreless innings with a career-high 10 strikeouts. The White Sox ran away with a 6-0 victory.
So in 37.2 innings pitched against the rest of baseball, José Soriano has allowed just one earned run. And in nine innings pitched against the Chicago White Sox, he has allowed eight earned runs. It seems the South Siders are his kryptonite.
This gives you a really good idea of the kind of baseball the White Sox are playing right now.
Not only are they 11-5 in their last 16 games, they've scored six runs or more in 50 percent of those games. Even against some of the best pitchers and teams in baseball, the White Sox have come to play. And of their five losses in that 16-game span, three have come in extra innings.
Every game has been competitive because this White Sox team is playing with a ton of confidence right now. They feel like they can compete against anybody, even the most dominant pitchers in baseball. That confidence has shown throughout this hot stretch.
And as we get deeper into May, with some big tests on the horizon—two series against the Seattle Mariners and a three-game set with the crosstown Cubs—the White Sox need to ride this momentum from being a fun early-season storyline into becoming a young, contending team that surprises everyone in baseball.
But if this lineup can consistently hit José Soriano, there's nobody they should feel overmatched by.