Soriano leads Halos in series-securing win over rival Rangers

ARLINGTON -- Given his elite stuff on the mound with a fastball that averages nearly 100 mph to go along with a devastating knuckle-curveball, it’s not exactly a shock to see right-hander José Soriano starting to figure things out as a starting pitcher.

Soriano has been on an impressive run and kept it rolling with the best outing of his young career in a 4-1 win over the Rangers on Sunday afternoon at Globe Life Field. Soriano went a career-high 7 2/3 innings, allowing one run on five hits and two walks with five strikeouts to pick up his second win of the season. He's gone 2-0 with a 1.90 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 23 2/3 innings in four May starts to lower his ERA to 3.30 on the year.

“Every umpire I talk to, they think it’s top-3 stuff in all of baseball,” said catcher Matt Thaiss. “It’s out of this world. As long as he does what he did today and fills up the zone, it’s kind of unhittable.”

The 25-year-old is beginning to look like a future frontline starter for the Angels after they decided to move him back into the rotation after pitching exclusively in relief last season. But they’ll continue to monitor him and be careful with him this year, as he’s undergone Tommy John surgery twice and has already surpassed his innings total from last year.

Soriano has thrown 46 1/3 innings this season after throwing 42 in the Majors last year, although he did throw an additional 23 1/3 innings in the Minors. The Angels will be smart with Soriano, but they do believe he has the frame at 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds to maintain a heavy workload in the future. His stuff has stayed sharp, as his fastball averaged 98.5 mph and topped out at 99.5 mph on Sunday, while he also mixed in his splitter 25 times and knuckle-curve 17 times.

“He just seems to get better and better with every start,” said center fielder Mickey Moniak. “Obviously, last year, we saw him out of the ‘pen and he was incredible. For him to be able to transition back into a starter and learn as he goes and to kind of just progressively get better and refine his craft with that stuff, it’s fun to watch, especially from center field.”

He didn’t give up his first hit until surrendering a solo homer to Corey Seager on a first-pitch knuckle-curveball with one out in the fourth. But it was the only run he allowed, and he was otherwise efficient.

He went back out for the eighth at 80 pitches and got two quick outs before he was visited at the mound by manager Ron Washington. Washington left Soriano in after a pep talk with Seager coming to the plate but Soriano walked Seager and gave up a single to Nathaniel Lowe. It ended his day after 93 pitches and right-hander Luis García replaced him.

“When I went out there to talk to him, he wanted to keep the ball, but it just didn’t work out. It was still an outstanding job,” Washington said. “He didn't run out of gas until the eighth inning, which was great. And by that time, we had a lead.”

García walked a tightrope, giving up a single to Josh Smith to load the bases but got Jonah Heim to fly out to center to end the scoring threat. García went on to throw a scoreless ninth to pick up the save, and Soriano was proud his outing caused the team to only need to use one reliever.

“I feel great,” Soriano said through interpreter Manny Del Campo. “It meant a lot to me because I go to help the team and the bullpen. They didn’t have to get overworked. So I felt good.”

Soriano was backed by a four-run seventh inning keyed by a game-tying RBI single from Mickey Moniak with one out and the bases loaded. Pinch-hitter Kevin Pillar stayed hot by coming through with a two-run single, giving him his 1,000th career hit and 14 RBIs through his first 12 games with the club. Luis Rengifo followed with an RBI triple to give the Angels an insurance run.

Pillar was excited to help get Soriano the win and was happy his family, including his parents, were at the game to see him reach the 1,000-hit milestone.

“Baseball is poetic in a way,” Pillar said. “I told them I wasn’t in the lineup, but they still wanted to be here for me to get an opportunity to come up. So to come through in that situation with them here, means the world to me.”