Soler homers in 4th straight game, powers Marlins to 6-2 victory over Angels
By JOE REEDY
AP Sports Writer
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Jorge Soler homered for the fourth straight game, Bryan De La Cruz had four hits — including a two-run homer — and the Miami Marlins snapped the Angels’ four-game winning streak with a 6-2 victory Friday night over Los Angeles.
Miami finished with a season-high 16 hits and everyone in the starting lineup got at least one. The Marlins have also had at least 11 hits in a club-record six straight games.
“Even though we’ve had a tough road trip win-loss wise, our offense has been feeling pretty good this month,” Miami manager Skip Schumaker said after his team improved to 3-5 on its 10-game trip. “We just keep moving the needle. De La Cruz is putting together solid at-bat after at-bat. … Soler just feels so confident.”
Mike Trout had an RBI single, Brandon Drury homered and Gio Urshela had three hits for the Angels.
Jesús Luzardo (4-3) allowed one run in five innings and struck out seven. The Marlins left-hander has a 1.64 ERA and 21 strikeouts in three games, including two starts, at Angel Stadium.
“He had our number last year, too. He’s really talented, and when he throws strikes like that he’s hard to hit,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said. “We had 10 hits and drew a couple walks. We just didn’t get a big one to get runs across.”
Soler became the first Marlins player in six years to homer in four consecutive games with a solo shot in the third. The outfielder crushed a changeup down the middle by Reid Detmers (0-4) a projected 425 feet over the batter’s-eye hedges in center field to extend Miami’s lead to 3-0.
The longest homer streak in the majors this season is five games, shared by the Cubs’ Christopher Morel and Cardinals’ Nolan Arenado.
Soler is second in the majors with 16 home runs. He has 11 in May, one off the team record shared by Giancarlo Stanton and Dan Uggla.
“I think I’m more patient at this time, selecting my right pitches and then just letting out a little more damage,” Soler said through a translator. “Everyone is taking good pitches and getting all those hits together.”
Miami got three straight hits with one out in the second inning, including a bloop RBI single to center by Jean Segura.
The Marlins hit four singles in a row to start the sixth, including Nick Fortes’ RBI base hit, to make it 3-1.
Drury brought the Angels within one run with a solo shot in the sixth before the Marlins answered in the seventh on De La Cruz’s two-run homer.
STREAKING
Trout’s base hit to drive in Chad Wallach in the fifth extended the Angels’ streak of not getting shut out to 93 games, the longest active run in the majors.
ROCKY DEBUT
Angels pitcher Sam Bachman became the first top-10 pick from the 2021 amateur draft to play in the majors when he came in for the eighth inning.
Bachman, the ninth overall selection by the Angels out of Miami University in Ohio, struck out four in two innings, but also allowed one run on four hits, including an RBI single by Luis Arraez in the eighth.
The 23-year-old right-hander threw 47 pitches, 27 for strikes. He issued two walks.
LOADED SECOND
The Marlins and Angels both had the bases loaded with two outs in the second, but were unable to get a run across.
Miami’s Jon Berti flied out and Los Angeles’ Zach Neto struck out.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Marlins: OF Jesús Sánchez (hamstring) went 0 for 3 in the first game of a rehab assignment with Triple-A Jacksonville. … LHP A.J. Puk (left elbow nerve irritation) will throw a 20-pitch bullpen Saturday.
Angels: 3B Anthony Rendon (groin) swung a bat for the first time in nearly two weeks.
UP NEXT
Marlins: RHP Edward Cabrera (3-4, 5.05 ERA) has seven straight games with at least five strikeouts.
Angels: RHP Shohei Ohtani (5-1, 3.05 ERA) pitched seven shutout innings and struck out 10 in a start against Miami last season.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
