CHICAGO — The Angels pitching staff followed the recipe they planned Saturday afternoon. Now, they just need the hitters to get going.

José Soriano dominated for seven innings and relievers Ben Joyce and Kenley Jansen worked the final two, which was enough for the Angels to secure a 1-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

“Outstanding,” Angels manager Ron Washington said of Soriano. “That’s exactly what we expect out of him. I know you can’t just mow people down like that every time, but he does a good job of keeping us in the game. Today, he did more than keep us in the game. He got us to the back of the pitching order that we wanted to use. He gave us seven quality innings, and we ended up scratching a run, and Ben Joyce and Jansen did the rest.”

Jansen struck out two in the ninth, picking up his first save with the Angels and the 448th of his career.

The Angels (1-1) played a better game than in their Opening Day loss, but they didn’t hit any better.

The only run came with the White Sox help in the eighth.

Jorge Soler drew a two-out walk. He went all the way to third when a wild pitch got past catcher Matt Thaiss – a former Angel – and he couldn’t immediately find the ball. Yoán Moncada – a former White Sox player who was booed throughout the game – then knocked in Soler with an infield hit. The Angels had been 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position before Moncada’s hit.

The run came just in time for Soriano to qualify for the victory.

A right-hander who established himself in his first year as a big-league starter in 2024, Soriano gave up just two hits in his 2025 debut. He walked two and struck out five.

It was his typical pitch-efficient, ground ball-heavy performance. He induced 10 groundouts among the 17 outs on balls in play. The only balls in the air were popouts.

“I felt great,” Soriano said through an interpreter. “This kind of start is what I want .... The plan was attacking the zone. I had my best pitches today, and I kept throwing them.”

Soriano threw 44 sinkers and 21 knuckle curves, accounting for all but eight of his pitches. The White Sox didn’t make much hard contact against him. One of the hits was an infield hit and the other was a soft ground ball up the middle.

“When he did get behind in the count, he was able to make pitches, and that’s what it takes,” Washington said. “He was just outstanding today.”

A little more margin for error would have been nice, though. The Angels had a steady stream of baserunners throughout the game, but they couldn’t string anything together to get a run. The Angels had seven hits and three walks in the first seven innings, but they didn’t even get a runner to third.

The only run they scored on Opening Day was a ninth-inning Logan O’Hoppe homer after they were down by eight.

When they finally got their first hit with a runner in scoring position of the season, it was Moncada’s comebacker that pitcher Mike Clevinger couldn’t handle cleanly. The ball dribbled into the grass behind the mound as the game’s only run scored.

Washington didn’t mind that the offensive performance was ugly. It was still a win.

“It only took one run to win that game, and we scored it; they didn’t,” Washington said. “So I’m not frustrated by that, because we’re going to we’re going to get things together offensively. I do believe that.”

Washington also wasn’t worried about Jo Adell, who left the game in the fifth inning with left hip tightness. Washington said Adell is day to day, and Adell echoed his manager’s confidence that it’s not a serious injury.

“Honestly, not too concerned,” Adell said. “I felt a little something running down the line. Just kind of that precautionary thing where we just wanted to make sure that everything’s good this early in the year. Just kind of really feels like tightness to me, so we just got to get that worked out.”