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Angels starting pitcher José Soriano throws to the plate during the first inning of a game against the Dodgers on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh)

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ANAHEIM — There is no evidence they have been bitten by a radioactive spider or exposed to gamma radiation. But the Angels seem to have developed a super power.

Jose Soriano overpowered the Dodgers for six scoreless innings on Monday night and Zach Neto homered twice as the Angels beat the Dodgers, 7-4, in the opener of the Anaheim half of this year’s Freeway Series.

The Angels (57-62) might be struggling to beat other teams but they have outscored the Dodgers 30-19 while winning all four meetings this season and have won six of the past seven (on the heels of a 10-game Dodgers winning streak).

Of more immediate concern for the Dodgers (68-51), the San Diego Padres (67-52) won in San Francisco on Monday night and are now just one game back in the National League West with a three-game series at Dodger Stadium looming this weekend.

“It’s not going well for us right now. We got to find a way to snap out of it. No one’s going to feel sorry for us. So it’s on us to find our way out of it, and we need to do it,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said.

“I’ll let you guys scoreboard watch for me. You’ve heard me say it a million times, we try to focus on what’s going on here and on this field. We don’t worry about what’s going on anywhere else. It sucks, but we have to focus on ourselves. We can’t worry about what anyone else is doing. We have to focus on ourselves, and like I said, we got to snap out of what’s going on.”

What’s going on Dodgers manager Dave Roberts described as “middling baseball” in every facet. After sweeping the Chicago White Sox to start July, the Dodgers led their division by nine games. They have lost almost all of that lead by going 12-19 since and failing to win more than two games in a row.

“There definitely has to be some urgency,” Roberts said. “I don’t think anyone is blind to the fact that the standings are the standings. It’s gotten a lot more interesting. So we’ve got to go out there and play good baseball. I definitely think that our guys are starting to feel that urgency. It’s been long enough of middling baseball – as far as overall team wins and losses.

“Whether you like it or not – it is what it is, right?”

The Dodgers never even got a runner to second base against Soriano, who allowed a one-out single to Mookie Betts in the first inning and a two-out single to Will Smith in the fourth. A day after getting 23 baserunners and stranding a season-high 16 of them, the Dodgers managed just two other baserunners against Soriano – walks drawn by Shohei Ohtani and Alex Freeland.

Soriano’s fastballs averaged 97 mph against the Dodgers but it was his knuckle curveball that befuddled them. He used it to finish off five of his six strikeouts and the Dodgers put just four of the 25 he threw in play.

“I think when you look at it, it’s more for me the command and what we’ve been talking in and out, daily here, with the fact that he can go to different weapons at different times, and it doesn’t always have to be stepping on the gas,” Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery said.

The Angels right-hander came into the game with a 1-7 record and 5.56 ERA at Angel Stadium this year (6-2 with a 2.48 ERA on the road), but he turned that around against the Dodgers.

Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, on the other hand, has been a much better pitcher on the road (a 2.28 ERA even after Monday’s clunker) than at home (3.56). Maybe Orange County wasn’t far enough away for him.

Yamamoto gave up a leadoff home run to Neto. It was Neto’s eighth leadoff home run this season, passing Brian Downing (1987) for the most in a season in Angels’ history, and he added a solo home run in the sixth off Alexis Diaz.

“It’s pretty special to start off the game with a bang like that and just be able to keep it going,” Neto said.

Yamamoto walked back-to-back batters later in the first inning with home plate umpire Dan Iassogna missing calls on ball two to Mike Trout and ball four to Taylor Ward. That set up Yoan Moncada to drive an RBI single to right field for a 2-0 Angels lead.

“That kind of threw me off rhythm,” Yamamoto said through his interpreter of the early runs. “As the game went on, I was trying to make a few adjustments but unfortunately I didn’t make them.

“My condition wasn’t that bad. My stuff wasn’t that bad. But unfortunately I started giving up runs before I found my rhythm.”

Yamamoto walked two more on his way to the fifth inning then gave up four more runs on four hits, another walk and a hit batter before Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pulled him from the game. The six runs in 4⅔ innings are the most Yamamoto has given up in any of his 41 major-league starts.

One thing has remained constant for Yamamoto at home or on the road – a lack of run support. In his 23 starts this season, the Dodgers scored a total of 38 runs while Yamamoto was in the game.

The Dodgers’ offense finally stirred to life against the Angels’ bullpen, well after Yamamoto was off to the showers and Neto’s second home run had made it 7-0. They loaded the bases in the seventh inning against Angels reliever Luis Garcia but came up empty when Freeland bounced back into a 1-2-3 double play.

Just for old times’ sake, Ohtani broke up the shutout with a solo home run in the eighth inning. It was his 42nd homer of the season, his third game in a row with one and fourth in his past five games.

After singles by Betts and Smith, Muncy sent a fly ball just over the short wall in the right field corner for a three-run homer. It was Muncy’s fourth home run in seven games since returning from the injured list.

Angels outfielder Gustavo Campero suffered his own injury while pursuing Muncy’s drive. Campero stepped on the base of the wall and appeared to injure his left ankle. He had to be carted off the field.

Kenley Jansen closed it out with a 1-2-3 ninth for his 469th career save (his fourth against the Dodgers).


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