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OAKLAND — The plan was for José Soriano to get through five innings Tuesday night, and he appeared quickly on his way to accomplishing that.

Then, the Angels right-hander hit turbulence in the bottom of the fourth. He was shown a quick exit in Los Angeles’ 7-5 loss to the Oakland A’s at the Coliseum in the opener of a three-game series.

Making his first start since June 12 after battling an abdomen infection, Soriano retired his first eight hitters and coasted through three scoreless innings. But in the fourth, he gave up a solo homer to Brent Rooker that broke a scoreless tie, and then Lawrence Butler tagged him for a three-run shot that put the Angels in a 4-0 hole.

Soriano left after four innings, allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out four. However, two swings of the bat from Oakland hitters defined his night.

Rooker’s home run was the A’s first off Soriano (4-6), and it came on a 0-2 breaking ball that caught too much of the plate. “Rooker is a good hitter.” “He threw him a breaking ball, and [Rooker] appeared to be looking for it,” Angels manager Ron Washington said.

“He just took a stride and swung the bat. He presumably was sitting on it and caught it.” Washington did not sound particularly disappointed with his 25-year-old right-hander. Soriano has emerged as a bright spot for the Dodgers in his debut season as a Major League starter. He had just pitched a good eight innings versus Arizona before being placed on the 15-day disabled list due to an abdominal illness.

Before Tuesday’s game, Washington stated that Soriano was on a 65-pitch limit and that it would be ideal if he could complete five innings.

We got four out of him, so he’s back,” Washington said. “We’ll see where he goes from here, but I liked how he threw the ball.” The Angels were 15-11 in June, including a three-game sweep of Oakland last week, but the A’s capitalized on their seven hits, and Oakland starter Mitch Spence (5-4) limited the Angels to one run in 5 1/3 innings. Nolan Schanuel drove in four runs for the Angels, who scored twice in the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate against A’s closer Mason Miller, but Taylor Ward struck out with a runner on base to end the game. Soriano, speaking through interpreter Manny Del Campo, stated:He felt strong physically.”I didn’t get the results I wanted, but I feel good,” Soriano remarked. “[Considering] how I was with the infection, I feel great, because I feel like I can compete.” Soriano had a chance to minimize the damage to one run in the fourth inning. But with two outs, Butler, a left-handed hitter, cut a drive down the left-field line that dropped just inside the foul pole for a three-run homer, making it 4-0. Butler expressed his admiration for Soriano, who came into the game leading Major League pitchers in average fastball velocity at 98.9 mph (minimum 70 innings). “He had some good stuff today,” Butler explained. “Electric heater, sinker, and fastball. He kept the sinker down. That’s The pitch was quite difficult to hit, with a sinker down at 99 [mph]. He was terrific tonight, but we got the better of him and won.”