For the first six starts of the 2026 season, José Soriano was doing something that hadn't been done in over a century. The Los Angeles Angels right-hander was pitching with a level of dominance so extreme that baseball historians had to reach back to the dead-ball era to find a comparable performance. Then, on April 28, the Chicago White Sox put three runs on the board, and the most extraordinary early-season pitching streak in modern memory came to an end.
The loss matters — but the streak matters more. What Soriano accomplished in his first six starts of 2026 isn't just a fun footnote. It's a genuine baseball rarity, a signal that the Angels may have a legitimate ace on their hands, and a story that raises difficult questions about what happens when a rebuilding team has a player this good.
The Numbers That Rewrote History
Context is everything when evaluating a pitcher's early-season performance. A few dominant outings in April can reflect favorable matchups, good weather, or simple variance. What Soriano did was different in kind, not just degree.
Entering his April 28 start against Chicago, Soriano carried a 5-0 record and a 0.24 ERA, having allowed just one run across his first six starts. That ERA, according to Yahoo Sports, is the lowest ERA through six starts since earned runs were first tracked in both leagues in 1913. He also became the first pitcher to allow just one run total across his first six starts of a season since 1900 — a mark that predates Babe Ruth's pitching career.
The supporting numbers were just as striking: 43 strikeouts, a 0.82 WHIP, and an ability to consistently locate his four-seam fastball at 98 MPH or above while mixing in a curveball, sinker, splitter, and slider that hitters simply couldn't solve. The "wiffle ball stuff" quote in that Yahoo Sports piece comes from opposing hitters and coaches genuinely struggling to explain what they were seeing — movement that defied normal tracking models, a fastball that arrived faster than the velocity reading suggested, and secondary pitches that tunneled off his heater before diving in ways batters couldn't anticipate.
How April 28 Unraveled
The loss itself, as CBS Sports reported, was a 5-2 Angels defeat in which Soriano allowed three runs on six hits with three walks across five innings. His ERA climbed from 0.24 to 0.84 — still historically elite, but no longer untouched.
The damage came from Drew Romo, who hit two home runs off Soriano — the first home runs of Romo's major league career. That detail deserves emphasis: Soriano wasn't beaten by a lineup full of All-Stars. The White Sox entered 2026 as one of baseball's worst teams, still deep in their rebuild. Romo connecting for his first career home runs on the biggest pitching story of the season is the kind of baseball irony the sport traffics in constantly.
Command was the central problem. Soriano threw 40 of his 97 pitches out of the zone, a significant departure from the precision that defined his first six starts. The walks — three of them — were uncharacteristic. When Soriano is locating his fastball, it's nearly unhittable even when hitters know it's coming. When he's missing, batters can lay off and wait for something more manageable. Against Chicago, he gave them that opportunity too often.
Per Yahoo Sports, manager Kurt Suzuki pointed to Soriano's daily work ethic and physical conditioning as reasons for optimism despite the loss — framing it as a blip rather than a structural issue.
Who Is José Soriano?
For casual fans who only recently started paying attention, Soriano's backstory adds weight to his 2026 performance. He's a Venezuelan right-hander who came to the Angels organization through the Pittsburgh Pirates system, dealt in a trade for reliever Keynan Middleton. The path wasn't linear — injury delays, minor league development time, the kind of grinding progression that doesn't generate headlines.
What made 2026 feel different was the context: Soriano was named the Angels' Opening Day starter, a designation that carries real meaning for a franchise in transition. The Angels haven't had a reliable ace since the organization began its post-Shohei Ohtani rebuild. Naming Soriano the Opening Day starter was a statement of organizational confidence.
After his April 17 win against the San Diego Padres, Soriano spoke publicly about mental and physical growth — the kind of quote that usually gets ignored but reads differently now. Pitchers who combine elite stuff with process-oriented thinking tend to sustain performance; those who rely purely on raw ability often don't. Soriano at 26 appears to be in the former category.
His previous time allowing a run before the White Sox game was April 6, in eight innings against the Atlanta Braves. Between that start and April 28, he threw shutout ball across multiple outings against teams that weren't pushovers. That's not variance — that's sustained execution.
The Arsenal That Makes It Work
Soriano's four-seam fastball sitting at 98 MPH and routinely touching higher is the foundation, but velocity alone doesn't explain what he's doing. Baseball is littered with hard throwers who get hit hard. What separates Soriano is the combination of velocity, movement, and deception.
His fastball has what scouts describe as riding life — it appears to rise rather than drop at the plate, making hitters swing under it more often than the raw speed would suggest. The curveball serves as a chase pitch that tunnels effectively off the fastball, meaning hitters who set up for a breaking ball often find themselves fooled by heat, and vice versa.
The splitter and sinker add ground-ball opportunities when he needs weak contact rather than strikeouts. This gives Soriano flexibility — he can pitch to swing-and-miss or pitch to contact depending on the situation, inning, and lineup spot. That adaptability is what allows a starter to go deep into games without burning through his stuff.
His 43 strikeouts through six starts suggest he was primarily in attack mode. The 0.82 WHIP suggests he wasn't relying on strikeouts to bail out bad counts — he was doing both simultaneously, which is what elite starters do.
What the Loss Reveals About the Angels' Situation
The April 28 loss didn't happen in a vacuum. The Angels have now lost five consecutive games and nine of their last ten. That context is important: Soriano is pitching brilliantly in front of a team that isn't winning baseball games. The offense that scored two runs against the White Sox is representative of a lineup that consistently fails to support their ace.
This dynamic — an elite pitcher stuck on a losing team — is exactly why trade speculation has already begun. The Cubs, Blue Jays, and at least six other contenders are reportedly monitoring the situation. The Angels, presumably, are aware that Soriano's value has never been higher. What they do with that leverage — whether they trade an ace to accelerate a rebuild or hold him as the centerpiece of something long-term — is the defining organizational question of their current moment.
For Soriano personally, the team's struggles are irrelevant to his individual performance but deeply relevant to his career trajectory. Pitchers who post historic numbers on bad teams get traded, then win playoff games, then get credited for their impact in ways that wouldn't happen if they'd stayed on the losing side. The next chapter of Soriano's story likely gets written somewhere other than Anaheim.
Analysis: What Soriano's Historic Start Actually Means
The impulse when a streak ends is to focus on what broke. That's the wrong frame here. A pitcher's first loss after six dominant starts doesn't invalidate the six starts — it contextualizes them. Soriano's ERA is now 0.84. That's still extraordinary.
What the April 28 performance actually demonstrated is that Soriano is human, which was the only thing in question. The command issues — 40 pitches out of the zone — are correctable. They likely reflect minor mechanical drift or fatigue, not a fundamental change in his ability. Suzuki's praise for his conditioning suggests the Angels' internal read is that this was a one-off, not a trend.
The historical markers are real and worth taking seriously. The lowest ERA through six starts since 1913 isn't a product of weak early-season competition or statistical quirk. ERA is a blunt instrument in some contexts, but when the sample is six starts and 40-plus innings, it reflects actual performance. Soriano was, for a defined period, the most dominant starting pitcher in baseball — and by historical standards, one of the most dominant any pitcher has been at the start of a season in over a hundred years.
The more interesting question is whether this level is sustainable over a full season. The honest answer is: probably not at 0.84, but something in the 2.50-3.00 range for a full season would make Soriano a legitimate Cy Young candidate and one of the best pitchers in baseball. The underlying stuff is real. The command is real. The question is durability across 30 starts, which requires staying healthy and maintaining mechanical consistency — neither of which can be predicted from April data.
What can be said with confidence is that the Angels have a genuine ace for the first time in years. Whether they keep him or trade him, whether the team wins or loses, Soriano's 2026 start is a story that will be referenced whenever his career is discussed. That's not a small thing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was José Soriano's ERA before the April 28 loss?
Soriano entered the April 28 start with a 0.24 ERA through six starts, having allowed just one run across those six outings. After allowing three runs to the White Sox, his ERA rose to 0.84 — still among the best in baseball at that point in the season.
Why is Soriano's start to 2026 considered historically significant?
His 0.24 ERA through six starts is the lowest since earned runs were first tracked in both leagues in 1913, making it the best such mark in over a century of baseball. He also became the first pitcher since 1900 to allow just one run total across his first six starts of a season, according to Yahoo Sports. Both marks place him in genuinely rarefied historical company.
What pitches does José Soriano throw?
Soriano's arsenal includes a four-seam fastball that routinely sits at 98 MPH or above, a curveball, sinker, splitter, and slider. The combination of velocity and movement on his fastball — plus his ability to tunnel secondary pitches off it effectively — is what makes him difficult to hit even when batters know the fastball is coming.
Could Soriano be traded before the deadline?
Trade speculation is already active. Reports have named the Cubs, Blue Jays, and multiple other contenders as teams monitoring his availability. With the Angels losing nine of their last ten games, the pressure to either compete or rebuild will intensify. Soriano's historic first half would give the Angels enormous trade leverage if they choose to move him.
Who hit home runs off Soriano in the April 28 loss?
Drew Romo of the Chicago White Sox hit two home runs off Soriano in the game — the first home runs of Romo's major league career. The Angels lost 5-2, with Soriano's scoreless innings streak ending on those two blasts.
Conclusion
José Soriano's first loss of 2026 will be remembered as a footnote to the streak it ended. Six starts. One run allowed. A 0.24 ERA that no pitcher has matched in over a hundred years. That's the headline, and one bad command day against the White Sox doesn't change what those six starts represented.
The more pressing question is what comes next — for Soriano individually and for the Angels as an organization. A pitcher this good deserves to pitch in meaningful games. Whether that happens in Anaheim or somewhere else, 2026 has already established that José Soriano belongs in the conversation about the best starters in baseball. The streak is over. The story is just getting started.
