Jose Soriano was in the thick of the early Cy Young Award chatter after garnering American League Pitcher of the Month honors for April.
Soriano, however, has been only the second-best starter for the Los Angeles Angels over the past month.
Rookie Walbert Urena (3-4, 2.68 ERA) has a 2.08 ERA over his last seven appearances for the Angels. He will start on Tuesday night against fellow right-hander Kai-Wei Teng (3-4, 3.06) and the Houston Astros in Anaheim, Calif., in the second contest of a three-game series.
Urena has allowed one run or less in five of his last seven starts, yielding just 24 hits while striking out 35 over 39 innings.
He was 0-1 with an 0.00 ERA in two relief appearances at the start of the season against Houston, when he allowed six runs, all unearned, over 1 2/3 innings.
Teng is 1-0 with an 0.00 ERA in one career appearance vs. Los Angeles. That came in an 11-9 victory in Houston on March 28, when he allowed one hit over 2 1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts.
Teng has allowed eight runs (seven earned) and three homers in 10 innings in his last two starts. He comes in off a 5-1 loss to Pittsburgh on Thursday when he allowed five runs (four earned), including a two-run homer to Ryan O’Hearn, on seven hits in five-plus innings.
Houston recorded its third win in four games when it rallied for a 5-4 victory in 10 innings over the Angels in Monday’s series opener. Automatic runner Jose Altuve tagged up and scored the go-ahead run on Jake Meyers’ popup into shallow center field.
Second baseman Nick Madrigal, who caught the ball about 25 feet beyond the infield dirt, turned and fired to the plate, but the ball skipped past Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe, allowing Altuve to score. O’Hoppe was charged with an error on the play.
“Made the best read I could on the hop,” O’Hoppe said. “It’s a punch in the face for sure. I’m pretty sick to my stomach about it and (ticked) off. … It’s just really frustrating.”
“I think that was kind of a bad play with a good result,” Altuve said of his decision to go. “We ended up winning the game, so I’m going to take it. In that moment you are just filled with adrenaline, you want to win the game, so I just run without thinking.”
Houston manager Joe Espada liked what he saw from Altuve on the play.
“Altuve aggressive, Madrigal on his heels. Once I saw him catching that ball that way, I knew Jose was coming. There was no doubt about it. … A really good, aggressive play. You have to force the issue, and it got everybody fired up. It’s a big play by a really good player.”
The Angels had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the 10th when Jose Siri led off with a single, but left fielder Brice Matthews threw out automatic runner Mike Trout at the plate.
“It was a perfect throw, and the catcher did a good job of applying the tag,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “You can live with that.”
–Field Level Media
