ANAHEIM, Calif. — — Jorge Soler homered for the fourth straight game, Bryan De La Cruz had four hits, including a two-run home run, 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, with everyone in the starting lineup scoring 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 win-loss road trip, our offense has felt pretty good this month,” Miami manager Skip Schumaker said after his team improved to 3-5 on its 10-game road trip. “We keep moving the needle. De La Cruz is putting together solid at-bat after at-bat. … Soler feels so confident”.
Mike Trout had an RBI single, Brandon Drury homered and Gio Urshela had three hits for the Angels.
Jesus Luzardo (4-3) allowed one run in five innings and struck out seven. The Marlins lefty has a 1.64 ERA and 21 strikeouts in three games, including two starts, at Angel Stadium.
He also had our number last year. 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 got a couple of walks. We just didn’t get a big one to cross.”
Soler became the first Marlins player in six years to hit a home run in four straight games with a solo shot in the third. The outfielder crushed a changeup up the middle by Reid Detmers (0-4) projected 425 feet over the batter’s eye hedges in center field to extend Miami’s lead to 3-0.
The longest home run streak in the majors this season is five games, shared by the Cubs’ Christopher Morel and the 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 right now, picking my right shots and then letting a little more damage slip away,” Soler said through a translator. “Everybody’s taking good pitches and getting all those hits together.”
Miami had three straight hits with one out in the second inning, including an RBI single to center off Jean Segura.
The Marlins hit four straight singles to start the sixth, including Nick Fortes’ RBI hit, to make it 3–1.
Drury pulled the Angels within one run with a solo home run in the sixth before the Marlins answered in the seventh with De La Cruz’s two-run home run.
STRIPES
Trout’s hit to drive in Chad Wallach in the fifth extended the Angels’ shutout streak to 93 games, the longest active streak in the majors.
ROCKY DEBUT
Angels pitcher Sam Bachman became the first top-10 pick in the 2021 amateur draft to play in the majors when he entered for the eighth inning.
Bachman, the Angels’ ninth overall pick out of Miami University in Ohio, struck out four in two innings, but also allowed one run and four hits, including Luis Arraez’s RBI single in the eighth.
The 23-year-old right-hander threw 47 pitches, 27 strikes. He walked two.
SECOND CHARGED
Both the Marlins and Angels had the bases loaded with two outs in the second, but couldn’t get a run.
Miami’s Jon Berti flied out and Los Angeles’ Zach Neto struck out.
COACHES ROOM
Marlins: OF Jesus Sanchez (hamstring) went 0-for-3 in the first game of a rehab assignment with Triple-A Jacksonville. … LHP AJ Puk (nerve irritation in left elbow) will throw a 20-pitch bullpen Saturday.
Angels: 3B Anthony Rendon (groin) swung a bat for the first time in nearly two weeks.
UNTIL NEXT TIME
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 scoreless 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
