Soler’s grand slam
Jorge Soler crushed a grand slam for the Angels, a swing that helped push the team to double‑digit runs in that game — the sort of one swing that flips momentum midseason. (x.com)
One swing turned a 3-1 game into a 10-1 game on Friday night in Cincinnati, when Jorge Soler launched a bases-loaded homer 417 feet to left-center on a 98.0 mile-per-hour fastball in the eighth inning. The Los Angeles Angels won 10-2 over the Cincinnati Reds on April 10, 2026. (mlb.com, espn.com) The pitch came with two outs, so Cincinnati was one strike away from escaping with the game still close. Instead, Soler’s fourth home run of 2026 left his bat at 110.4 miles per hour and cleared the bases in one shot. (mlb.com) That blast landed in the middle of a five-run eighth inning, which is why the box score suddenly looked lopsided after seven tight innings. Zach Neto and Josh Lowe also homered for Los Angeles, but Soler’s swing was the one that broke the game open for good. (espn.com, sports.yahoo.com) The game had been built on pitching before that. Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz worked seven innings, allowed one run on two hits, and improved to 2-0, which gave Los Angeles time to wait for one big inning instead of chasing the game. (espn.com, mlb.com) Soler had already shaped the early lead before the grand slam arrived. He doubled with two outs in the third inning and later scored on a Yoan Moncada infield single, so he was involved in both the first run and the last four runs of the night. (espn.com) This was also a useful night for an Angels lineup that has been rearranged in real time. Josh Lowe is new to the roster after a January 16, 2026 three-team trade with the Tampa Bay Rays and Cincinnati Reds, and his home run in the same game showed why Los Angeles wanted another left-handed outfield bat next to Mike Trout and Soler. (mlb.com, espn.com, espn.com) The win mattered beyond one highlight clip because the Angels were 6-7 after the game and only 1.5 games behind first place in the American League West on April 10. In a division that tight, a single late-inning avalanche can change the mood of an entire road trip. (baseball-reference.com, baseball-reference.com) It also ended a specific annoyance: Los Angeles had lost seven straight games at Great American Ball Park before Friday night. Soler’s grand slam did not just add four runs to the scoreboard; it snapped that streak with one of those swings that makes the last inning feel longer than the first seven combined. (espn.com, sports.yahoo.com)
