Jose Soriano was up and down in his Toronto Blue Jays debut, allowing two runs in four and two-thirds innings Friday night against the Philadelphia Phillies.
One of the two runs was unearned.
Soriano struggled with his command at times, issuing three walks and striking out three. The 27-year-old righty threw 94 pitches and surrendered four hits, leaving with runners on second and third base in the bottom half of the fifth inning. Reliever Mason Fluharty struck out National League home run leader Kyle Schwarber to end the threat and close the book on Soriano in his debut.
The Blue Jays led 3-2 at the time of his departure.
Soriano came into Friday’s outing with a 3.29 ERA with 127 strikeouts in 123.0 innings pitched spread out over 22 starts. He leads the American League in walks at 57 but is allowing just 0.9 home runs per nine innings.
The Blue Jays acquired Soriano from the Los Angeles Angels earlier this week in exchange for shortstop Arjun Nimmala, Toronto’s No. 2 prospect according to MLB.com, as well as outfield prospect Eddie Micheletti, and pitching prospect Angel Rivero.
Soriano is under team control through 2028 and is eligible for arbitration in each of the next two off-seasons.
Bateman doubles in debut
Blue Jays outfielder Brett Bateman got his MLB career started with a bang, doubling off the wall against Phillies starter Zack Wheeler on the first pitch he saw at the Major League level.
He later came around to score on an Alejandro Kirk third-inning sacrifice fly to give the Jays the lead.
Acquired Sunday night from the Chicago Cubs as part of the package for starter Kevin Gausman, Bateman was officially activated by the Jays Friday prior to first pitch. He batted ninth and played centre field.
Bateman was slashing .311/.429/.416 with three home runs and 33 RBI in 84 minor-league games this season at Triple-A.
