Jose Soriano gave the Angels exactly the kind of outing that keeps teams interested at the deadline, and Jo Adell supplied the odd finish that has become part of this club’s identity.
Los Angeles opened its three-game set against the St. Louis Cardinals with a 3-2 walk-off win, and the night was built around Soriano’s seven sharp innings. The right-hander struck out seven, allowed hits, and issued one walk while looking much closer to the pitcher who opened the season with a brilliant month-long run than the one who has mostly been merely solid since then.
Soriano, 27, has been in trade chatter for a month with the Aug. 3 deadline approaching, but he said he’s staying locked in on the job in front of him.
“I don't try to think of that,” Soriano said in a piece written by Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. “I let my agent and GM work on that. Right now, I just try to focus to help the team the most I can and give my best every game.”
He also pointed to the same thing that has always mattered most for him: strikes.
“Just trying to keep my head up and never give up,” Soriano said. “I know I’ve had a tough time.
But the last couple outings I feel like I started getting back and that's that's the goal. Trying to get back to where I was in the beginning [of the season].”
Adell, another player whose name has surfaced in trade talk, kept the Angels in it with his 14th homer in the third inning. Then he found himself at the center of the ninth-inning chaos when Cardinals closer Riley O’Brien lost his command after entering with a 2-1 lead. Adell was hit by a pitch to bring in the winning run in a finish that fit the Angels’ weird brand of late-game drama.
“That's one of those where you don't feel it getting hit right there,” Adell said. “Good stuff.”
Adell said he knows he won’t match last season’s 37-homer output, and he didn’t address the trade speculation. What he did talk about was simplifying his approach after a rough stretch.
“It's been no secret I've been struggling the past week,” Adell said. “But just getting back to seeing pitches and not trying to do too much. I felt like my first at-bat was kind of an example of just waiting it out and finding a pitch, and really just tried to do that throughout the course of the game, so good things happened.”
The win gave the Angels rare back-to-back victories, but the bigger picture remains the same: the deadline is coming fast, and Soriano and Adell both made their cases in the opener against St. Louis.
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Interim general manager John Mozeliak may have the freedom to make that call after Perry Minasian was fired, which only adds to the sense that this could be one of the more consequential decisions of the month. The Braves, Brewers and Guardians have all been floated as possible partners, and each would have a different kind of young hitter to discuss, but for now Detmers remains in the middle of a market that has not yet produced a deal. [Read more 🡒]
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Nolan Schanuel Suddenly Feels Like An Angels Deadline Decision
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The Angels are not actively shopping him, and there is no sense they are eager to move him. Still, if the right offer shows up, the front office would have to at least consider it, especially with clubs like Arizona, Cleveland and Detroit potentially able to build a prospect-heavy package around a player who fits a lot of needs. For now, Schanuel remains in Anaheim, but the deadline conversation around him is already starting to sound a lot more real than it did a few months ago. [Read more 🡒]