The Toronto Blue Jays saw the home debut of Jose Soriano, who was once again electric.
Toronto pulled off a blockbuster move to acquire Soriano from the Los Angeles Angels to bolster the rotation for now and for years to come. On Wednesday, he made his home debut as Toronto took on the Boston Red Sox, and Soriano was dominant.
Soriano went 6 innings, allowing 1 run on 4 hits, while striking out 4. After the Blue Jays’ 6-4 win, Schneider was asked about Soriano and had plenty of praise for the pitcher.
“Electric sinker. He’s got a really slow heartbeat; I thought he was really good, in control. Has taken in what we talked about a little bit,” Schneider said postgame. “Really getting his stuff into the zone; he did that. We played good defense behind him; he’s got really, really good stuff. Curveball was pretty good; landed it at times; split is a good pitch two. It’s a pretty dynamic two-seam and four-seam combo. …
“We have talked to him a lot, saying, ‘Get in the zone; your stuff plays in the zone, and let the defense do your thing.’ You look up, and you like the pitch count. It’s nice when you can get six from your starter.”
Soriano improved to 9-6 with a 3.16 ERA in 24 starts this season.
The Blue Jays will look for a four-game series sweep of the Red Sox on Wednesday.
Blue Jays Felt Like They Could Unlock More Out of Soriano
The Blue Jays pulled off a blockbuster move to acquire Soriano.
Soriano was stellar with the Angels, but the Blue Jays felt like they could unlock more from him.
“I think there is a way to unlock more strike-throwing ability and that comes with catching, too, the catcher’s setup and framing,” Schneider said after the trade deadline. “There are some areas we want to evolve a little bit with his game. He’s got a really, really good starting point to go forward with, obviously. He’s having a great year.”
Soriano is under team control through 2028, so the Blue Jays will have him for a couple more years.
Toronto is Turning a Corner
The Blue Jays have started to play much better and are now just 2 games back of a playoff spot.
After Tuesday’s win, Schneider felt like the Blue Jays are turning a corner and showing they are a good team.
“We know who we’re playing, we know how we have to play and I like the way we’re playing right now,” Schneider said. “I wish we were scoring a bit more to give the bullpen a break, but these guys are playing their [butts] off right now. It’s still realistic. I still think we’re a good team. We haven’t done as well as we would have hoped, but we’ve got time to do that.”
Dylan Cease, meanwhile, believes the team is starting to gel and starting to click.
“We’ve been playing really well, even in Philly, just fighting hard and doing the extra things in games,” said Dylan Cease. “I think we’ve been playing very clean baseball.”
The Blue Jays are 59-63.
Blue Jays Manager Shares Honest Thoughts on Jose Soriano After Red Sox Outing