Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani (32) is putting up amazing performances, but Los Angeles Angels' José Soriano (28) is showing even more remarkable results.
Ohtani started on the mound in the game against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park in San Francisco, California, on the 23rd (Korean time), going six innings, allowing five hits, striking out seven and allowing no runs.
Throwing 91 pitches, Ohtani used a four-seam fastball (47 pitches), a sweeper (28 pitches), a splitter (9 pitches), a curve (4 pitches) and a sinker (3 pitches). His four-seam fastball reached a top speed of 100.6 mph (161.9 km/h).
Ohtani allowed his first run of the season in the Toronto game on the 9th, ending a streak of 25⅓ scoreless innings. But after a strong outing of six innings and one run against the Mets on the 16th, he threw six scoreless innings in this game, lowering his season earned run average to 0.38. That is so dominant it is only about one-fourth of Bryce Elder's (Atlanta) 1.50, who ranks second in the National League in ERA.
Having achieved almost everything a baseball player can—league MVP, Silver Slugger, All-Star starter and World Series champion—Ohtani now has the Cy Young Award as his final remaining goal. Many believe this season, his first full season as a two-way player since joining the Dodgers after fully recovering from elbow and shoulder surgeries, is the right timing for Ohtani to challenge for the Cy Young. Ohtani has shown astonishing early-season performance as if he too is aiming for the Cy Young.
However, despite posting an overwhelmingly low ERA, Ohtani does not hold the top ERA across both leagues because a pitcher in the American League has produced a performance surpassing Ohtani. The ace for the Angels who has emerged is Soriano.
Soriano started against the Toronto Blue Jays at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California, and went five innings, allowing seven hits, striking out four and allowing no runs. He threw 84 pitches and used a knuckle curve (30 pitches), a sinker (19 pitches), a four-seam fastball (19 pitches), a splitter (14 pitches) and a slider (2 pitches). His four-seam fastball reached a top speed of 98.5 mph (158.5 km/h).
With that scoreless outing his season ERA dropped to 0.24. Not only is that first in the American League, but it also surpasses Ohtani to become the lowest ERA across both leagues.
Major League Baseball's official site MLB.com highlighted Soriano's strong outing, saying, "José Soriano did not show his best stuff but he made history against the Blue Jays." The 0.24 ERA Soriano recorded is the lowest ever for a pitcher in his first six starts of a season since earned runs became an official statistic in 1913.
Soriano said, "There are days like this. Even if it's not necessarily against the Blue Jays, situations can vary each time. All I can do is keep hanging in there and get it done."
Angels manager Kurt Suzuki praised him, saying, "He's special. It's really amazing that he performs his role every day. It's the same on days he starts and on days he trains between appearances. He's athletically very gifted, so he's fun to watch. He's truly incredible."
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