The Los Angeles Angels were hoping they were turning a corner after finishing May with six wins in the final nine games, including a 14-run outburst on Saturday against the Tampa Bay Rays.

However, not even ace pitcher Jose Soriano could have success, even against the lowly Colorado Rockies in a 9-8 loss on Monday night in Anaheim.

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Soriano, who was an early Cy Young candidate this season, went just 4.2 innings, allowing two earned runs (three unearned) on three hits with seven strikeouts. That doesn’t seem so bad, but Soriano walked seven batters and threw 108 pitches before leaving the game.

Soriano walked Tyler Freeman, the second batter of the game, who scored the first run after a Troy Johnston single sent him home. Soriano then hit Willi Castro with a pitch in the fifth inning before walking Edouard Julien and then being removed from the game.

He is also the first Angels pitcher to walk seven batters in a game since 2013, when Garrett Richards did it.

Oddly enough, the Angels had a 5-3 lead when Soriano left, and Jose Siri hit a grand slam in the bottom of the third after Jo Adell‘s RBI single gave the Angels their first run of the game.

Still, the Angels held a 6-3 lead until the eighth, when everything unraveled. Jose Fermin came in to pitch, and he allowed two doubles, a walk, a single, and then a three-run home run to Hunter Goodman that gave the Rockies an 8-6 lead.

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Fermin’s final line for the outing was 0.2 innings with five runs on four hits, although it was the first time Fermin had allowed a run since May 11 against the Cleveland Guardians.

Still, Jorge Soler hit a two-run triple in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game and give the Angels some hope again.

The ball hit the netting and was mishandled in right field, allowing Soler to get his first triple since 2024.

In the ninth, however, veteran reliever Kirby Yates allowed a single and a double before TJ Rumfield hit the go-ahead sacrifice fly.

The Angels then ended the game in the bottom of the ninth with a double play by Siri, and it was a tough loss in a game that LA had plenty of chances to win.

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On Tuesday, Tomoyuki Sugano (4-4, 4.01 ERA) takes the mound for the Rockies as the Angels will throw Grayson Rodriguez (2-1, 7.53).