Padres bats put on ice by Soriano, open road trip with shutout loss to Angels
San Diego Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill (3) strikes out during the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium. The Padres eight-game winning streak ran into a brick wall in the name of MLB-leading pitcher José Soriano, as San Diego was shut out for the first time in 2026 in an 8-0 loss to the Los Angeles Angels in the series opener at Angel Stadium. After pounding out ten-plus hits in each of their past five games, the Padres (13-7) could only cobble together a trio on Friday night.
Meanwhile the Angels (11-10) battered Brown and Gold pitchers for 13 hits, with a pair of doubles and home runs. "We took really good at bats against Soriano, he's just a a really good pitcher. We battled him, we got him out of there before the sixth inning which was a goal of ours pregame, to get him out as early as we could," manager Craig Stammen said.
"At that time the score was already 8-0, so tough to hang your hat on that, but the competing that we're showing in the box is pretty good so that will only benefit us going forward the rest of the year. " As expected, chances were few and far between against Soriano, who set down the side in order in four innings. The lone early chance came in the third, when Ty France hit a one-out single and Luis Campusano walked.
Fernando Tatis Jr. worked a full-count free pass to load the bases, but Jackson Merrill grounded out against one of Soriano’s trademark sinkers. Manny Machado had the only other hit off the Halos’ starter, poking it through the left side in the sixth inning with two down before Xander Bogaerts walked to end Soriano’s evening.
Gavin Sheets then gave the first-pitch fastball from reliever Chase Silseth a ride, but saw it die on the warning track. Sheets collected the lone extra base hit for San Diego with a two-out double in the ninth off Jordan Romano, making it three games in a row with a double. He leads the Padres with nine two-baggers and 11 extra base hits total.