Los Angeles Angels starter José Soriano didn’t figure to need much help from his offense, but he received plenty anyway.
Soriano entered the April 12 game against the Cincinnati Reds with a 0.45 ERA, and it stood to reason the 5-0 lead Los Angeles provided him by the end of the second inning would be more than enough run support. That proved true in an eventual 9-6 Angels win at Great American Ball Park.
The defeat for Cincinnati (9-7) meant they’d dropped four out of five games dating back to the final two games of its prior series against the Miami Marlins. The Reds will next host the San Francisco Giants for three games April 14-16.
Soriano didn’t allow a Reds hit until the fourth inning. He tossed seven innings of two-hit, shutout baseball with 10 strikeouts to improve to 4-0 in 2026 and help Los Angeles win the series against Cincinnati.
“He (Soriano) kind of came as advertised,” Reds manager Terry Francona said. “He’s got high-nineties, two-seam movement… He’s pretty impressive.”
Cincinnati’s hits off Soriano were recorded by Matt McLain and catcher P.J. Higgins.
“He’s a good pitcher,” Higgins said. “Ball moves a lot. He commands… You can’t just kind of sit in there and look fastball.”
Elly De La Cruz added a third hit in the eighth inning off Indianapolis native and Miami RedHawks product, Sam Bachman. Later in the eighth, Sal Stewart blooped a single into right-center field to score T.J. Friedl and break up the shutout.
Bachman loaded the bases in the eighth and saw two runs cross for Cincinnati on a wild pitch. He was one of three pitchers the Angels needed to record the final six outs, and the Reds loaded the bases again in the ninth with no outs. After a double play, De La Cruz thwacked a three-run homer to right-center field.
The homer was De La Cruz’s fifth of the season, four coming right-handed. Los Angeles had long ago poured on the offense they’d need, though.
The Angels (8-8) chased Reds starter Andrew Abbott after three-plus innings. Abbott allowed seven runs on eight hits. Los Angeles’ Nos. 6, 7 and 8 hitters − Nolan Schanuel, Logan O’Hoppe and Oswald Peraza − accounted for five combined RBIs by game’s end.
Abbott’s personal record dropped to 0-2 as his ERA increased to 5.85. The seven runs he allowed were a career high, and his three-plus innings marked the second-shortest start of his career.
“Didn’t really think he was throwing the ball that bad,” Francona said. “Started spinning it better in the second and there started to be some pitches that were just up a little bit too much, catching too much of the plate.”
Cincinnati’s bullpen quieted the game down somewhat for the second day in a row, allowing two runs the rest of the afternoon. That started with Kyle Nicolas rebounding from his unsuccessful April 10 debut for the Reds with two scoreless innings April 12.
Francona on Reds-Angels series oddities: ‘Got to play clean baseball’
Francona is rarely one to look back on a past game, and it’s hard to argue with his philosophy considering he’s eclipsed 2,000 managerial wins in his career. But Francona on April 12 had an overarching takeaway from the Reds-Angels series when prompted on how the series was played: The Reds can’t afford the sloppiness they exhibited.
Not often one to look back at the prior day’s game, Francona was asked April 12 about the 46 combined walks by both teams in the series, 20 of which belonged to Reds pitchers. Cincinnati also continued to labor at times with runners in scoring position, and needed the four combined runs that resulted from the six wild pitches by Angels hurlers and two passed balls by Los Angeles catcher Logan O’Hoppe.
The Reds also had three errors in the series finale. On the bases, Noelvi Marte was picked off on April 11 and doubled off at third base when Matt McLain lined out April 12 in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded. De La Cruz would later homer in the inning.
“I don’t care about yesterday. It doesn’t matter to me,” Francona said. “I care about what we do. If they had wild pitches or passed balls, whatever. We need to tighten it up a little bit because we’re not scoring at will, so we need to make sure we pay attention to detail. Got to lower our walks. Got to play clean baseball. We will.”
Next up | Reds host San Francisco Giants
Cincinnati will continue its fourth turn through the starting rotation as they send out Brady Singer (0-1, 7.71 ERA), Rhett Lowder (1-1, 3.31 ERA) and Chase Burns (1-1, 3.31 ERA) to face the San Francisco Giants’ Robbie Ray (2-1, 2.08 ERA), former Reds Opening Day starter Tyler Mahle (0-2, 4.30 ERA) and Landen Roupp (2-1, 3.24 ERA).
First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. on Tuesday, April 14 and Wednesday, April 15. The Thursday, April 16 game is a 12:40 p.m. scheduled start.
April 15 marks MLB’s observance of Jackie Robinson Day. There will be league-wide tributes honoring the late Robinson’s MLB debut. All players and coaches will wear uniforms adorning the number “42,” and game caps will feature a patch noting the day. The 2026 season is the 79th anniversary of Robinson debuting in MLB and integrating baseball.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Angels’ Soriano dominates, Reds lose fourth in five games
Reporting by Pat Brennan, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
