Opening Day takeaways: Soriano deals, offense turns it on late

Mar 26, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Los Angeles Angels shortstop Zach Neto (9) celebrates with right fielder Mike Trout (27) after defeating the Houston Astros at Daikin Park. With the dawn of a new season, hope and optimism flow through players and fans across baseball. For the Los Angeles Angels, the hope is a bit murky.

The playoff drought is now up to 11 years, and the winning record drought has hit a decade, and there aren’t a ton of signs that better days are on the horizon. The Angels embark on their quest for long-awaited success in Houston to take on the Astros. Right-hander José Soriano was masterful en route to a 3-0 Angels win to kick off the season on Thursday, their first win on Opening Day since 2021.

Here are the main takeaways from the game: José Soriano Dominated In the first Opening Day start of his career, Soriano showed why he was deserving of the nod. He tossed six innings of shutout ball, striking out seven batters and only allowing two hits. Walks were an issue for only the third inning, but he was untouchable the rest of the way.

A pair of walks and an intentional walk loaded the bases with two outs in the third inning, but he got Astros shortstop Carlos Correa to fly out to get out of the jam. Soriano’s stuff was electric. The sinker sat at 98 miles per hour and despite only throwing it in the zone 43% of the time, he got a ton of chases on it and it equated to a strike in 77% of his sinkers.