OAKLAND -- The plan was for José Soriano to get through five innings Tuesday night, and he appeared quickly on his way to accomplishing that.

Then, the Angels right-hander hit turbulence in the bottom of the fourth. He was shown a quick exit in Los Angeles' 7-5 loss to the Oakland A’s at the Coliseum in the opener of a three-game series.

Making his first start since June 12 after battling an abdomen infection, Soriano retired his first eight hitters and coasted through three scoreless innings. But in the fourth, he gave up a solo homer to Brent Rooker that broke a scoreless tie, and then Lawrence Butler tagged him for a three-run shot that put the Angels in a 4-0 hole.

Soriano left after four innings, giving up just three hits and one walk with four strikeouts. But two swings of the bat by Oakland hitters defined his night.

Rooker’s home run, the first hit the A’s managed off Soriano (4-6), came on an 0-2 breaking ball that caught too much of the plate.

“Rooker’s a good hitter. He threw him a breaking ball, and it looked like [Rooker] was looking for it,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “He just made his stride and swung the bat. He probably was sitting on it, and he caught it.”

Washington didn’t sound overly disappointed with his 25-year-old right-hander. Soriano has emerged as a bright spot for Los Angeles in his first season as a Major League starter. He was coming off a solid eight-inning outing against Arizona before the abdomen infection required a trip to the 15-day injured list.

Washington said before Tuesday’s game that Soriano was on roughly a 65-pitch limit and that it would be ideal if Soriano could get through five innings.

“We got four out of him, so he’s back,” Washington said. “We’ll see where he goes from here, but I was pleased with the way he threw the ball.”

The Angels came in having gone 15-11 in June, a stretch that included a three-game sweep of Oakland last week. But the A’s made the most of their seven hits, and Oakland starter Mitch Spence (5-4) held the Angels to one run over 5 1/3 innings.

Nolan Schanuel drove in four runs for the Angels, and they scored twice in the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate against A’s closer Mason Miller, but Taylor Ward struck out with a runner on first to end it.

Soriano, speaking through interpreter Manny Del Campo, said he felt strong physically.

“I didn’t have the results that I wanted to, but I feel good,” Soriano said. “[Considering] how I was with the infection, I feel great, because I feel like I can compete.”

Soriano had a chance to limit the damage to just one run in the fourth. But with two outs, the left-handed-hitting Butler sliced a drive down the left-field line that landed just inside the foul pole for his three-run homer, making it 4-0.

After the game, Butler said he was impressed with Soriano, who entered the night leading Major League pitchers in average fastball velocity at 98.9 mph (minimum 70 IP).

“He had some good stuff today,” Butler said. “Electric heater, a sinker and a fastball. He was keeping the sinker down. That’s a very hard pitch to hit, a 99 [mph] sinker down. He was amazing tonight, but we got the better of him so we got the win.”