José Soriano strikes out 10, lifts Angels past Reds, 9-6

José Soriano kept overpowering hitters and kept answering the season’s biggest question for the Angels: whether the rotation could become a real strength before the offense had to carry everything.

The right-hander struck out 10 over seven shutout innings Sunday, becoming the first pitcher in Major League Baseball to reach four wins this season as Los Angeles beat the Cincinnati Reds 9-6. Soriano improved to 4-0, lowered his major-league-best ERA to 0.33 and allowed just two hits and three walks across 106 pitches. Through four starts, he has piled up 31 strikeouts in 27.0 innings while giving up only nine hits and one earned run.

That kind of start has altered the early conversation around the Angels. Soriano became the first Angels starter to open a season 4-0 since Jered Weaver in 2011, and the club’s latest win also delivered its first series victory at Great American Ball Park since 2007. The sample is still small, but the combination of strikeouts, limited hard contact and enough stamina to work into the seventh has made Soriano look less like a flash and more like a foundation piece.

Los Angeles gave him room to work almost immediately. Nolan Schanuel drove in three runs and put the Angels ahead with a two-run single in a three-run first inning. Mike Trout scored three times, doubled in a run in the second and later came home on Jorge Soler’s sacrifice fly. Oswald Peraza added more separation with a home run on the first pitch of the fourth inning, helping Los Angeles build a 9-0 lead by the eighth.

Cincinnati’s Andrew Abbott took the loss after allowing seven runs in three innings, matching his career high. The Reds finally got on the board when Elly De La Cruz connected for a three-run homer, his fifth of the season, but the comeback never seriously threatened the result.

MLB’s early national picture now includes Soriano as one of the league’s most striking pitching stories. The Angels have won two of three in the series and, more important, may have found a starter whose production is strong enough to shape how the club is viewed beyond Anaheim.