'He fell behind:' Soriano struggles vs. Twins' bats

ANAHEIM -- It wasn't a banner night for Angels pitchers named José on Saturday and it could lead to a roster shakeup on Sunday.

Right-hander José Soriano turned in the worst start of his young career, while relievers José Suarez and José Cisnero struggled in a 16-5 loss to the Twins at Angel Stadium. Right-hander Carson Fulmer did his best to pick up the slack by throwing 3 1/3 innings in long relief but allowed four runs, and the Angels could be forced to make a roster move on Sunday to shore up an overworked pitching staff.

"It's very frustrating," Soriano said through interpreter Manny Del Campo. "Because I want to go as long as I can and try to help the team win. I was trying to throw my pitches in the zone, but it wasn't working. It was one of those days."

Soriano, making his fourth career start, was coming off a strong outing against the Reds, in which he allowed zero earned runs over six innings with seven strikeouts. But he had trouble locating his pitches against the Twins, and it was evident right away. He lasted just 1 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on three hits, three walks and two hit batters, as only 21 of his 48 pitches went for strikes.

"He fell behind and was able to land some breaking, stuff but he really couldn't land anything with any consistency," Angels manager Ron Washington said. "That was the first time really even during Spring Training that I've seen him that out of whack."

He could be a candidate to be optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake, as the Angels are monitoring his workload and have an off-day on Thursday. But the early indications are he'll remain in the rotation for now.

"We're very mindful of his workload," Washington said. "He's a big strong kid. I don't think we've been overworking him. Today was just one of those days where nothing he did worked. If you take the mound enough, that happens."

Soriano walked Alex Kirilloff on six pitches to open the game before giving up a single to Edouard Julien and hitting Ryan Jeffers with a 2-0 sinker to load the bases. After striking out Trevor Larnach, Soriano walked Max Kepler on a borderline 3-2 curveball that looked like it caught part of the zone. But it was ruled a ball and brought home the game's first run. Soriano, though, recovered and induced a double-play grounder to escape further trouble.

But he wasn't as fortunate in the second, when he hit Carlos Santana with a knuckle-curve, uncorked a wild pitch and walked Kyle Farmer with nobody out. He gave up another run on a sacrifice fly after a groundout before departing with two outs after allowing back-to-back singles to Julien and Jeffers. Suarez replaced him and promptly surrendered an RBI single, but Jeffers was thrown out trying to advance to third.

Suarez's struggles continued in the third inning, as he permitted four straight hits to open the frame, including back-to-back doubles. He got through the inning, but that was it from him. He has a 10.13 ERA in 16 innings this season after giving up three runs in 1 1/3 frames. Suarez, though, is out of Minor League options and would have to be designated for assignment if the Angels decide to make a move. But it sounded like they're not quite ready for that yet.

"All we can do is keep running him out there," Washington said. "Once we believe he's no longer able to produce how we know he's capable of producing that question can be answered. But I can't answer that right now because we are still planning on running him out there."

The Angels called on Cisnero for the fourth, but he was lifted after serving up a three-run homer to Santana with two outs. Cisnero, signed to a one-year deal worth $1.75 in the offseason, has a 7.07 ERA in 14 innings. He would also have to be DFA'd if the Angels decided to make a roster move with him.

It helps that lefty Reid Detmers starts on Sunday and has been the club's best pitcher this season, but they still might need another arm for protection after Soriano's short outing on Saturday.

"We've got three of our best guys available," Washington said. "Our starter tomorrow is just going to have to take us as deep as he can."