José

Soriano

Soriano gave up three hits, walked three and struck out five. The run came in the fifth after a miscue on what should have been an inning-ending double play. Soriano has rebounded nicely with a 2.74 ERA in four starts this month. He’s due to make his next start at home against Milwaukee.

Although he was hit fairly hard — nine of the 17 balls in play against him topped 101 mph — Soriano struck out seven in his longest and probably best outing since May 10 against the Blue Jays. Since that game, he’d had a 5.24 ERA and a 54/33 K/BB in 56 2/3 innings over 11 outings. Soriano will likely make his next start Sunday against the Giants. There’s a chance that could be his last with the Angels, though Reid Detmers remains the better bet to be traded.

Detmers spent last year in the bullpen but has enjoyed a solid return to the rotation, posting a 4.16 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, and 130/35 K/BB ratio in 114 2/3 innings. There are still some consistency issues, and being able to work with the pitching development program in another organization would probably benefit him. Jose Soriano also started the year on fire, allowing one earned run in his first six starts. In 14 starts since, he has a 5.15 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, and a 72/40 K/BB ratio in 73 1/3 innings.

Detmers has been a viable fantasy option for most of the first half of the season despite winning only three games, as he registered a 4.19 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and a 123/35 K/BB ratio across 108 2/3 innings through his first 19 starts. He’ll be followed in the Angels’ rotation by Grayson Rodriguez and Ryan Johnson in their weekend series against the Tigers. Jose Soriano and Walbert Urena will pitch on Monday and Tuesday respectively against the Cardinals.

Soriano tossed a scoreless first inning, then gave up two runs on two walks and a hit in the second. He settled in for four more scoreless frames, giving up just one more hit the rest of the way before departing after six innings with four strikeouts. The 27-year-old right-hander ends the day with a 3.40 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, and a 115/51 K/BB ratio across 106 innings. He’ll take on the Twins in Minnesota on Sunday.

Soriano cruised through five scoreless innings before running into trouble in the sixth. Seattle started the inning with three straight hits to bring home a run, knocking Soriano from the game at 91 pitches. Both inherited runners would come in to score. He generated 16 whiffs to collect nine strikeouts. The 27-year-old right-hander will take a 3.42 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, and a 111/49 K/BB ratio across 100 innings into a start against the Rangers in Texas next Tuesday.

Samuel Basallo did most of the damage, hitting two-run homers in both the second and third innings. Soriano allowed four other hits, walked two and struck out four. His average fastball today came in at 96.0 mph, making this the third time in four starts that he’s come in down about 1.5 mph from his season average. He was back up to 97.0 mph in his last outing against the A’s, but that was his best mark in June. He averaged 97.7 mph in April and May. Given that he was struggling some even before the velocity hit, he can be considered droppable in shallow leagues. He has a 5.20 ERA and a 53/32 K/BB in 52 1/3 innings since the beginning of May.

Soriano allowed six hits, walked four and struck out six. The right-hander exited with a 10-4 lead, but the Angels bullpen — unsurprisingly — collapsed to prevent a win. It’s probably a fair result, all things considered. Soriano was dominant in April with a 0.84 ERA. Since then, he’s been an average at best fantasy option. He’ll try and get things going again versus Baltimore on Wednesday at home.

Soriano departed after just 76 pitches. He doesn’t expect tonight’s issue to be a problem going forward, so we’ll still pencil him in to face the A’s in Sacramento next week.

Soriano was hit by a comebacker in the first, which might have had something to do with the quick hook. But if he’s fine, this is a nice, positive outing for him. Soriano had a 5.53 ERA with 20 walks in 27 2/3 innings over his previous five starts. He still has a 2.79 ERA overall, but with only a road start in Sacramento on the docket, he seems like a mediocre play in mixed leagues next week.