Mike Trout homered, Nolan Schanuel homered and hit a three-run double and Jose Soriano worked five shutout innings as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-3 on Wednesday to avoid a series sweep.
Trout's eighth homer of the season was a 428-foot solo shot in the bottom of the fifth. That hit tied the 34-year-old Trout with the late Garret Anderson for the Angels' franchise record of 796 extra-base hits. Anderson died last week of an acute necrotizing pancreatitis at the age of 53.
Soriano, who is 5-0, allowed three hits and struck out five in five innings before leaving with a 3-0 lead. He lowered his ERA to an MLB-leading 0.24. The 27-year-old right-hander is the first MLB pitcher since 1900 to allow no more than one run in the first six starts of a season, and he has the lowest ERA (with a minimum of 30 innings pitched) through a pitcher’s first six starts of a season since 1913, when earned runs became official in both leagues.
Toronto starter Eric Lauer allowed three runs over five innings.
Despite his impressive outing, Soriano did not figure in the decision after the Blue Jays rallied in the seventh. Tyler Heineman drove in the first run before Nathan Lukes hit an RBI double and Ernie Clement added a two-out RBI single to tie it 3-3.
The Angels countered in the bottom half. Schanuel, who hit a solo homer in the fourth, hit a three-run double to left that gave the Angels a 6-3 lead. They added another run on Hunter Renfroe's RBI single.
Brent Suter (1-1) struck out two and worked a scoreless seventh for the win. Tommy Nance (0-2) allowed two runs in 1 1/3 innings and took the loss.
Up next
The Blue Jays have not announced a starter for their series opener against Cleveland at Rogers Centre on Friday. The Angels have not announced a starter for their series opener against Kansas City on Friday.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
The Associated Press
