José Soriano dominates again as Angels beat Reds

Jeff Fletcher, The Orange County Register on Apr 12, 2026

Published in Baseball

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CINCINNATI — So far this season, José Soriano is leaving a trail of frustrated hitters.

One after another has trudged back to the dugout after a strikeout or a weak ground ball or popout.

The Los Angeles Angels’ right-hander pitched another seven scoreless innings, and the Angels hitters produced a steady stream of offense, in a 9-6 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday.

The Angels had a 9-0 lead before the bullpen and defense combined to spoil an otherwise perfect afternoon, giving up six runs in the final two innings. Right-handers Sam Bachman and Nick Sandlin and left-hander Drew Pomeranz all gave up runs before Pomeranz recorded the final out.

None of that detracted from Soriano’s gem, though.

Soriano (4-0) leads the majors with an 0.33 ERA, and he’s the first pitcher to reach four victories. He is also leading the majors with 31 strikeouts. In 27 innings, he’s allowed just nine hits and nine walks.

On Sunday, he gave up just two singles, striking out 10 and walking three. He threw 106 relatively stress-free pitches. He only faced one batter with a runner in scoring position, and he struck him out.

Soriano also didn’t throw a pitch with less than a three-run lead, thanks to the Angels’ lineup having a second textbook performance in three games.

The Angels (8-8) had 10 hits and nine walks, with three strikeouts. On Friday night, they had 10 hits, eight walks and seven strikeouts.

The first inning on Sunday was a classic example of what can happen when you simply put the ball in play. The Angels scored three runs on four singles, none of them hit particularly hard.

Mike Trout’s single was a blooper and Vaughn Grissom’s was a ground ball that shortstop Elly De La Cruz stopped. All three runs came on two-out hits, from Nolan Schanuel and Logan O’Hoppe.

In the second inning, the Angels turned a walk, two hits and a sacrifice fly into two more runs. They scored three runs on outs, and one on a bases-loaded walk.

The Angels’ only homer was an Oswald Peraza solo shot in the fourth inning.

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