Ricky Nolasco’s quality start not enough for Angels in 3-1 loss

The Chicago Cubs drafted right-hander Ricky Nolasco and catcher Geovany Soto seven rounds apart 15 years ago. They reported to rookie ball and ascended two levels together.

Their careers unfurled across Major League Baseball, to nine teams between them, until Wednesday night at Wrigley Field, where they formed a battery for the first time in a long time, Nolasco making his second start with his new team and Soto returning from a month-long disabled list stint to play in his first home ballpark.

“It was great to come back and remember old times for a minute,” Soto said.

Both men said they felt more familiar with each other than in typical debuts. And, pitching with noticeable deliberation, Nolasco recorded one of his best performances of the season, striking out six Cubs in six innings while yielding only two runs. It was not enough to break the Angels’ losing streak, stretched to six games after Wednesday’s 3-1 decision.

With two outs in the bottom of the third inning, Kris Bryant pounded a double into the ivy, and Anthony Rizzo followed with a single just past second baseman Gregorio Petit’s grasp, scoring Bryant. Ben Zobrist then grounded a ball to the right of that, within Albert Pujols’ reach, and he reached it with a dive, ending the inning.

The Cubs beat him once more, in the fifth, as starting pitcher Jason Hammel singled, took second on a wild pitch, and then home when Dexter Fowler shot a double down the left-field line. Nolasco settled to record five more outs in what Angels Manager Mike Scioscia termed an exciting performance from the trade-deadline acquisition.

“For the most part, he had command of his sinker, and he really spun the ball well with his breaking balls,” Scioscia said. “That’s when he’s at his best. That was a very encouraging start.”

Hammel was returning from a week spent on the bereavement list. In Chicago, the 33-year-old right-hander has found success he could not at several previous career stops, and his seven scoreless innings Wednesday lowered his earned-run average to a career-best 2.90. He fired fastball after fastball his first time through the Angels’ order, and then unveiled his biting, speedy slider.

The Angels could not generate a hit until the third inning, when, on a 3-and-0 count, Yunel Escobar slapped an inner-half fastball into left field. Nolasco had earlier walked, so he took second, but Kole Calhoun grounded out to second on the next pitch.

They managed to load the bases in the fourth, but with two outs and as their pitcher approached the plate. Nolasco, batting eighth, could only trickle a ball a few feet in front of the plate. He was thrown out.

In the eighth, the Angels rallied against an array of Cubs relievers. Escobar singled off Pedro Strop, and Calhoun doubled off Travis Wood. Rookie right-hander Carl Edwards Jr. entered, struck out Mike Trout and battled Pujols to eight pitches before inducing a groundout.

“I just pulled my hat down more,” Edwards Jr. said of facing the two stars, “so I don’t see their faces.”

Edwards needed one last pitch, a fastball outside the strike zone, to induce a weak groundout from Andrelton Simmons and end the inning. Aroldis Chapman struck out the side swinging in the ninth, and the Angels were off to Cleveland with nothing to show for two games in Chicago besides a few laughs.

Trout heard jeers and taunts from the bleachers both nights, but he sensed more vigor Wednesday, and so, by the fifth inning, he said, he was interacting with the fans.

“I like to have fun out there,” Trout said.

Did he get them back with anything funny?

“Nah,” he said. “I just look at them, start laughing, and they all go nuts.”

pedro.moura@latimes.com

Twitter: @pedromoura