Padres bats put on ice by Soriano, open road trip with shutout loss to Angels

Sheets collected the lone extra base hit for San Diego with a two-out double in the ninth off Jordan Romano, making it three games in a row with one. He leads the Padres with nine two-baggers and 11 extra base hits total.

Meanwhile, starter Matt Waldron lasted just 3 2/3 innings in his first Majors start since June 30, 2025,  as the Angels laced him for six runs on eight hits. Five of the six runs were driven in with two outs and two strikes, as Waldron took the loss and had four strikeouts and a walk.

First it was a leadoff home run by Yoán Moncada in the second inning, then a two-out plunking of Logan O’Hoppe set up Adam Frazier for an RBI double and Zach Neto followed with an RBI single.

In the fourth, a two-out walk to Mike Trout with a man on opened the door for Nolan Schanuel to hit rope an RBI single, which Jo Adell followed with a two RBI double off reliever David Morgan to close the book on the starter.

Morgan allowed two more runs in the fifth when he hit lead off batter Oswald Peraza with a pitch and then Josh Lowe hit his third home run of the season. The Angels have hit 34 home runs, the most in the AL and second-most in MLB behind the Dodgers.

Soriano earned his third win of the season, going 5 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts (four on his knucklecurve) and four walks. After entering the day with a league-low 0.33 ERA, he lowered it 0.28 with the performance and has not allowed a run over his last 19 2/3 innings since allowing a first inning home run against Atlanta on April 6.

Waldron was reinstated from the 15-day IL prior to the game to start in place of Nick Pivetta, with the Padres optioning Alek Jacob to Triple-A El Paso. Additionally, Ramón Laureano did not start, getting a break while riding a six-game hitting streak.

Game two of the set will see Germán Márquez (2-1, 5.54 ERA) get the start for the Padres, having picked his wins over his last two starts. The Angels will counter with left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (0-2, 7.50 ERA), who has given up four or more runs in three of his four starts.

First pitch is scheduled for 6:38 p.m. on Saturday, April 18 at Angel Stadium.