{"id":657087,"date":"2026-04-01T17:39:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T17:39:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/657087\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T17:39:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T17:39:30","slug":"angels-looking-to-build-off-sorianos-dominant-performance-in-finale-versus-cubs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/657087\/","title":{"rendered":"Angels Looking To Build Off Soriano&#8217;s Dominant Performance In Finale Versus Cubs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The series opener between the Los Angeles Angels and Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field was a gorgeous night with the temperature in the mid-to-high 70s around first pitch, and while the Angels didn\u2019t get anything going until the seventh inning, there were 14 hits and nine runs scored in the game.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/roundtable.io\/sports\/mlb\/angels\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Angels;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Angels&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Angels<\/a> dropped the opener 7-2 and just didn\u2019t play a clean game. However, in conditions that should have favored Chicago during the second game of the series, Los Angeles came away with a 2-0 win on the shoulders of right-hander <a href=\"https:\/\/roundtable.io\/sports\/mlb\/angels\/opinion\/angels-ss-neto-opening-day-starter-soriano-predicted-to-be-team-s-mvp-cy-young-in-2026\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Jos\u00e9 Soriano;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Jos\u00e9 Soriano&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Jos\u00e9 Soriano<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Soriano was brilliant, pitching six scoreless innings and allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out four. Two starts, two six-inning shutout performances for the Halos\u2019 ace.<\/p>\n<p>It was a pitcher\u2019s duel, as Cubs righty Jameson Taillon pitched 4.2 scoreless innings, and it wasn\u2019t until a misplay by the league\u2019s best defensive center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong in the sixth inning put the two runners who scored in scoring position with no outs that the Angels threatened to score. Catcher Logan O\u2019Hoppe came up clutch for Los Angeles, scorching a ball to third base that got under the glove of Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman to bring in the game\u2019s lone runs.<\/p>\n<p>The Angels\u2019 bullpen shut it down for the remainder of the game to even up the series. It was cold and the wind was howling in, which is right on brand for early-spring Wrigley weather, and the rubber match will feature the same conditions.<\/p>\n<p>Angels lefty Yusei Kikuchi will toe the rubber in the series finale and is coming off an OK performance against the Houston Astros. Kikuchi threw 4.1 innings and allowed two runs on eight hits and one walk while he struck out three. The Halos <a href=\"https:\/\/roundtable.io\/sports\/mlb\/angels\/game-day\/trout-stays-hot-homers-again-as-angels-knock-off-astros-6-2-for-best-start-since-2007\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:won that game 6-2;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;won that game 6-2&quot;}\" class=\"link \">won that game 6-2<\/a>, but Kikuchi logged a no-decision.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>He will go up against Cubs manager Craig Counsell\u2019s new-look lefty lineup:<\/p>\n<p>1. Nico Hoerner (2B)<\/p>\n<p>2. Bregman (3B)<\/p>\n<p>3. Ian Happ (LF)<\/p>\n<p>4. Carson Kelly (C)<\/p>\n<p>5. Michael Busch (1B)<\/p>\n<p>6. Dansby Swanson (SS)<\/p>\n<p>7. Matt Shaw (RF)<\/p>\n<p>8. Crow-Armstrong (CF)<\/p>\n<p>9. Miguel Amaya (DH)<\/p>\n<p>Bregman is batting .350 (7-for-20) with two home runs and five RBI against Kikuchi in his career; Kelly is 0-for-6, and the rest of Chicago\u2019s lineup hasn\u2019t faced Kikuchi yet.<\/p>\n<p>Left-hander Matthew Boyd will go for the Cubs, and he was roughed up by the Washington Nationals on Opening Day despite striking out seven batters and five in a row at one point. Boyd lasted just 3.2 innings and surrendered six runs on six hits and a walk. He and the Cubs are looking for a bounce-back outing to win the series against a different lineup from manager Kurt Suzuki:<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>1. Zach Neto (SS)<\/p>\n<p>2. Mike Trout (CF)<\/p>\n<p>3. Jo Adell (RF)<\/p>\n<p>4. Jorge Soler (DH)<\/p>\n<p>5. Yoan Moncada (3B)<\/p>\n<p>6. Oswald Peraza (2B)<\/p>\n<p>7. Jeimer Candelario (1B)<\/p>\n<p>8. Travis d\u2019Arnaud (C)<\/p>\n<p>9. Bryce Teodosio (LF)<\/p>\n<p>Only Neto, Adell and Teodosio have yet to get an at-bat against Boyd. Soler and Moncada have the most success against the lefty; Soler is 6-for-22 (.273 BA) with two RBI but 10 strikeouts while Moncada is 5-for-19 (.263 BA) with a homer, RBI and nine strikeouts.<\/p>\n<p>First pitch is at 1:20 p.m. CT on MLB.TV and regional sports networks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The series opener between the Los Angeles Angels and Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field was a gorgeous night&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2390],"tags":[72,291,5,24202,34,24,733,54,36,5173,1502,2179,3509,44345,1165,446,3223,774,56,3224,3222,716,2000,37,728,603,4,33,1841,35,5317,44713,71,3511,809,2052],"class_list":{"0":"post-657087","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-angels","8":"tag-alex-bregman","9":"tag-angels","10":"tag-baseball","11":"tag-bryce-teodosio","12":"tag-carson-kelly","13":"tag-chicago-cubs","14":"tag-dansby-swanson","15":"tag-houston-astros","16":"tag-ian-happ","17":"tag-jameson-taillon","18":"tag-jeimer-candelario","19":"tag-jo-adell","20":"tag-jorge-soler","21":"tag-kurt-suzuki","22":"tag-la","23":"tag-la-angels","24":"tag-laangels","25":"tag-los-angeles","26":"tag-los-angeles-angels","27":"tag-losangeles","28":"tag-losangelesangels","29":"tag-matt-shaw","30":"tag-matthew-boyd","31":"tag-michael-busch","32":"tag-miguel-amaya","33":"tag-mike-trout","34":"tag-mlb","35":"tag-nico-hoerner","36":"tag-oswald-peraza","37":"tag-pete-crow-armstrong","38":"tag-the-angels","39":"tag-the-halos","40":"tag-washington-nationals","41":"tag-yoan-moncada","42":"tag-yusei-kikuchi","43":"tag-zach-neto"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}