Jose Soriano will be at Haugen for Los Angeles Angels against Cleveland Guardians on Friday night in Anaheim, California, in an attempt to match his impressive season debut.
Soriano (1-0, 0.00 era) allowed two hits over seven speechless innings in a 1-0 victory over Chicago White Sox last Saturday, what kind of performance that Angels hopes they will see throughout the season and thereafter.
“Exactly what we expect from him,” said Angels -Manager Ron Washington.
More than half of Soriano’s pitch against White Sox was his high-speed cutter-96-, 97 mph with movement. The right -hander knocked out five, but his goal is not to blow away hitters.
Keeping his pitch count allows him to hit deeper into the game, and going seven rounds helps to take the pressure from the bull and sets up eighth inning of Reliever Ben Joyce and closer to Kenley Jansen.
“I know you can’t just cut people down every time, but he is doing a good job of keeping us in the game,” Washington said. “He got us on the back of pitching order that we want to use and gave us seven qualities.”
Soriano is 2-1 with a 2.77 era over 13 rounds in three career games (two starts) against Cleveland.
He is matched against Guardian’s right-hander Gavin Williams (0-0, 3.60 era), who made a decision without a decision when he allowed two runs and four hits in five rounds in a 4-3 loss to Kansas City Royals last Saturday. Williams has never met the angels.
Guardians seem to have avoided disaster now that Jose Ramirez seems to be good after spraying his right wrist on a stolen base attempt last Saturday.
He missed Sunday’s play in Kansas City but returned to the lineup on Monday and was a triple shy for the bike in a 7-2 loss to San Diego Padres. In three matches since the injury, Ramirez is 5-for-11 with one homer and two doubles.
“He’s the best player in the world,” said Cleveland Catcher Austin Hedges. “He fits us. He is our catalyst. So no one is surprised that even with a bum wrist he goes out and almost hits for the bike.”
Ramirez just missed last season when he joined Alfonso Soriano as the only players in Major League story in a special 40-40-40-club-minst 40 homers, 40 doubles and 40 stolen bases. Ramirez had 39 homers, 39 doubles and 41 steals.
When he got so close, his seasonal work burned.
“I think everything happens for a reason,” Ramirez said through an interpreter. “And the reason why it happened is to get an extra tool to work hard this season. One of the reasons I worked harder this year is to try to get that goal.”
Angels Center-Fielder Jo Adell, who got the starting job when the club released Mickey Moniak, is up and beats .250 (3-for-12) without extra base hits and an RBI. But Washington has an alternative in the church Paris, which has made the transition from between Infielder to midfield and makes it difficult to keep him away from the set.
Paris beats .444 (4-for-9) with five points, one triple, one homer and three stolen bases.
“Mature, growing, doesn’t seem like any moment is too big for him right now,” Washington said. “Very happy for him, because he works with the butt.”
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