Jose Soriano may be making one of his final starts in an Angels uniform, and he’ll try to keep a strong July rolling when Los Angeles meets the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday night in Anaheim.
Soriano enters the second game of the three-game set at 9-6 with a 3.29 ERA, one win away from matching his career high. He was 10-11 last season, and with rumors swirling that he could be on the trade block before Monday’s deadline, this one carries a little extra weight.
The Brewers have already seen Soriano once, and that outing went sideways fast. In a 9-2 Milwaukee win on Sept.
17, 2025, Soriano was charged with three runs on two hits and two walks in just 1 1/3 innings. He also left after taking a line drive off his right forearm from Jake Bauers, a ball that came off the bat at 107.4 mph.
This month, though, Soriano has looked much sharper. He went 1-1 in four July starts with a 2.74 ERA, giving up just 14 hits and seven earned runs across 23 innings while striking out 16. He’s coming off a 4-3 win at San Francisco on Sunday, when he allowed one unearned run on three hits over five innings and fanned five.
"I thought he was really good today," Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said after the game.
Milwaukee will counter with left-hander Robert Gasser, who has yet to face the Angels. Gasser is 3-4 with a 4.71 ERA overall, but he has been better lately, going 3-1 with a 3.92 ERA over his last seven starts while striking out 33 in 39 innings.
Gasser was acquired by the Brewers from the San Diego Padres on Aug. 1, 2022, in the Josh Hader trade. He comes in off a win of his own, after beating the Colorado Rockies 8-5 on Saturday. In that outing, he gave up two runs on five hits in six innings without issuing a walk and struck out four.
The Brewers opened the series with a 6-2 victory on Friday, launching into a stretch of 17 games in 17 days on the right foot. Brice Turang and Jake Bauers each homered in a five-run fifth inning, and rookie left-hander Shane Drohan handled the Angels over six innings, allowing two runs on four hits.
That was Drohan’s fourth straight start of at least six innings and at least six strikeouts.
"He was fantastic," Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said of Drohan, postgame. "He was in control.
This is a tough lineup for him to navigate with all the righties, and he did a great job. This kid has been, I don't know how many in a row, but this has been probably six or seven in a row that he's been in the sixth (inning).
He's kept us in every game he's pitched."
"Super impressive," Bauers said of Drohan. "The guy is stone cold.
He's stone cold in the clubhouse, he's stone cold in the dugout and he's stone cold on the mound. I don't know how he does it.
It's a pleasure to watch him pitch and work behind him."
In Other News...
Brewers May Be Trying Another Deadline Turnaround Fans Have Seen Before
The Brewers were active again at the deadline, working a four-player deal with Cleveland that added catcher Bo Naylor and reliever Codi Heuer to a roster built around constant roster churn and opportunistic bets. In return, Milwaukee sent reliever Craig Yoho and outfielder Blake Perkins to the Guardians, another reminder that this front office is rarely afraid to swap pieces if it thinks theres a path to squeezing more out of them.
Naylors arrival is the part that makes the move feel familiar to longtime Brewers watchers. He is at a similar stage in his career to Andrew Vaughn when Milwaukee brought him in previously, and the club has shown before that it believes a fresh setting can unlock a player it thinks still has room to grow. Both Naylor and Heuer were optioned to Triple-A after the trade, so the next phase of this move will play out away from the majors while the Brewers see whether another deadline swing can produce the kind of turnaround they have chased before. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Fans Just Got Another Trade Deadline Twist In Relief Market
Another familiar bullpen name is on the move at the deadline, and this one has a Milwaukee tie. Brent Suter, the left-handed reliever who recently faced his former club, has been dealt from the Angels to the Braves, according to ESPNs Jeff Passan, with Atlanta sending infielder Nacho Alvarez Jr. back the other way.
For Brewers fans, it adds another layer to a market that has already been buzzing around relief help. Suter is heading to a contender for the stretch run, and there is at least one more twist to monitor if the schedule lines up, because the Brewers could see him again when the Braves come to town later this month. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Just Made A Staff Move Pat Murphy Really Needed
The Brewers have been looking for another layer of stability around a pitching staff that has had to keep adapting all year, and a recent move with St. Louis gives Pat Murphy another pair of arms to work with as the calendar turns toward the stretch run. It is the kind of trade that makes sense on Milwaukees side: add big-league help where it can matter most, while dealing from a deeper group of minor-league position players to make it happen.
For a club trying to piece together innings and shorten the distance from starter to endgame, the attraction is obvious. The shuffle also shows how much the Brewers value getting immediate pitching support without waiting on a prospect timeline, even if it costs them two outfielders who had been part of the organizations future depth. What comes next is the part Milwaukee will care about most: whether the new arrivals can settle in quickly enough to help right away. [Read more 🡒]