The Los Angeles Angels have now split, lost and won a series to open the season after taking two of three from the Seattle Mariners over the weekend.
While the Angels got the best of its American League West rival, the Mariners got the best of star center fielder Mike Trout. Two days after Trout was hit on the shoulder (one pitch after getting some chin music from right-hander Bryan Woo), Trout was hit on the hand by righty reliever Casey Legumina in the eighth inning of the series finale.
Advertisement
Trout exited the game and is now day-to-day, but the Angels got the job done for its leader and first baseman Nolan Schanuel walked it off on a sacrifice fly to win 8-7 in the 11th inning.
The Angels now have their sights on a three-game home set against the Atlanta Braves, a team that has hit and pitched very well in the early going. The Braves had a disappointing 2025 season and finished 10 games under .500 (76-86) but are destined to get back to the postseason in 2026.
Atlanta has Major League Baseball’s best team ERA (1.82) by more than half a run (New York Yankees sit in second with a 2.35 ERA) and are tied with the Seattle Mariners with six quality starts to lead the majors. Offensively, the Braves are tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Nationals with 87 hits (third-most), have 13 home runs (third-most) and 48 RBI (fifth-most).
Advertisement
It will be a good test for Angels right-hander José Soriano, who gets the nod for the opener against Braves left-hander Chris Sale. Both starters are 2-0 and have surrendered very little offense through 12 innings of work. Sale has a 0.75 ERA and 0.58 WHIP after outings against the Kansas City Royals and Athletics while Soriano hasn’t allowed a run with a 0.83 WHIP after outings against the Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs.
Coming off winning the National League Cy Young award in 2024, Sale was banged up a bit last season but still made 21 appearances (20 starts) and went 7-5 with a 2.58 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 165 strikeouts. He was an All-Star for the ninth time in his career and led the NL with 225 punchouts.
Soriano has been a reliable arm for the Angels since 2023 and has been a mainstay in the starting rotation since 2024. He earned the Opening Day start after going 10-11 with a 4.26 ERA, 1.40 WHIP and 152 strikeouts over 169 innings (31 starts) a season ago.
First pitch is at 6:38 p.m. PST on ESPN Unlimited, MLB.TV and regional sports networks.
