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After Striking Out Shohei Ohtani (Again), George Soriano's Stature Grows with Cards
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- After Striking Out Shohei Ohtani (Again), George Soriano's Stature Grows with Cards
Cardinals ' manager Oliver Marmol discusses the effort of reliever George Soriano , who struck out Shohei Ohtani looking in Friday's 7-2 win.
ST. LOUIS – Asked in the glow of the Cardinals' 7-2throttling of the back-to-back champion Dodgers on Friday where his clutch,seventh-inning strikeout of Shohei Ohtani stood in his career, George Soriano'sresponse was about as casual as his restrained fist pump in the moment.
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"I don't really have an idea about (where the moment wouldrank in his career) because that's the third time that I've struck out Ohtani,"Soriano said through Cardinals' bullpen catcher and translator Kleininger Teran."So, it's not the first time."
Soriano, a rising talent out of a Cardinals bullpen thathas difficulty throwing strikes and holding leads, casually left out the factthat Ohtani reached him for a historic 438-foot homer on Sept. 19, 2024, a longball that allowed Ohtani to become the first member of the 50-homer, 50-stolenbase club in MLB history. But this fact remains in their head-to-head battlesthrough the years – Soriano came into Saturday having whiffed the four-time MVPthree times and given up only the history homer in five at bats.
That Soriano, 27, was even in the game to face Ohtani in a4-2 game at the time speaks to the drastic improvement he has made under the tutelageof Cardinals' bullpen coach Julio Rangel and pitching coach Dusty Blake. Afterspending three seasons with the Marlins from 2023-25, Soriano was claimed off bythe Orioles and subsequently designated for assignment by Baltimore , Atlanta and Washington – a process the Cardinals were a part of each time and unsuccessfullytried to claim Soriano because of his potential. The Nats traded him to theCardinals early in Spring Training, and he not only made the Opening Day roster,but has come to the aid of the Cards in recent games.
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Pitching in many of the high-leverage spots the Cardinalsexpected to use struggling veteran Ryne Stanek , Soriano has allowed just onerun and four hits over his last six outings. He smothered the Dodgers over 1 1/3innings on Friday, and he came up big in two outings in Pittsburgh when St.Louis swept the Pirates over a four-game series earlier in the week.
In 15 games, Soriano is 1-0 with a 3.68 while holding foes to a .154 batting average with the "gyro slider" taught to him by the Cardinals. His ground ball rate (53.7 percent) ranks in MLB''s top 88th percentile, while the velocity on his average fastball (96.5 mph) ranks in the top 80th percentile. Also, there's this: Foes are struggling against his slider (.100 batting average), four-seamer (.158) and his changeup (100).
"We've thrown some multiples on ( Gordon Graceffo ), so weknew if it was a situation where we had to get out of the sixth and the seventh,it would be Soriano," manager Oliver Marmol said. "He made his pitch and the Ohtani(moment), I love that at bat. I can't give the game plan and (catcher PedroPages) ability to navigate that lineup. The punch out on Ohtani was prettysweet."
Well-traveled Soriano improves with Cards
What made Soriano's success against Ohtani even more "sweet"for the Cardinals was the manner that he attacked the superstar slugger. Heused a changeup, four-seam fastball and a slider to get ahead 1-2 and keepOhtani guessing. After missing with two changeups, Soriano caught the Dodgers'star looking for a 98.4 mph four-seam fastball right down the middle.
What followed the Ohtani strikeout was even more surprising to Cardinals'teammates who know Soriano for being incredibly quiet, shy and unassuming: A fistpump.
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"Yeah, that's a lot of emotion for George," starter MatthewLiberatore joked. "Even inside the clubhouse, he's definitely on the quieterside. To see any emotion from him, that was awesome and you know he was prettyfired up about that."
Added Soriano, who flashed a quick smile at mention of the fistpump: "I understand how good Ohtani is and I just went with my strengths there.That was my mentality. When you win, you want to celebrate. That moment helpedus win and that's why I celebrated (with the fist pump.)"
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