ANAHEIM — Yoán Moncada was ready to come back, even before waiting for his knee to be totally pain free.
“I’m not 100%, but the knee doesn’t feel as bad,” Moncada said through an interpreter after he was activated from the injured list on Tuesday.
Moncada has been out since June 2 with right knee inflammation. His progress was slow for a few weeks. He didn’t even cross the final threshold – hitting from the right side – until last week.
Moncada played just three exhibition games in the rookie-level Arizona Complex League. He was 4 for 9 with a home run and four walks. He played six innings at third base on Saturday and a full nine on Monday night, and then he was in Anaheim the next day.
“I felt OK,” Moncada said. “I had pretty good at-bats, good games. I’m doing what I can to help the team.”
The Angels could use Moncada back in the lineup, and the bar is fairly low for him to be an improvement.
Luis Rengifo, who would have been playing second when Moncada was at third, shifted to third for much of his absence, leaving another hole in the infield. The other spot was populated by Kevin Newman, Scott Kingery and Chad Stevens. For a couple of weeks, when Rengifo was at third and Christian Moore was at second, the infield was productive, but Moore sprained his thumb last week in Atlanta, creating a need for Moncada to return.
“We’ve all seen it; we know how valuable he is to us,” interim manager Ray Montgomery said. “He anchors everything. Kind of brings peace and calm to third base and the lineup. I’m glad he’s here.”
Moncada also gives the Angels another left-handed hitter when they are facing a righty, which is most of the time. The only lefty who has been productive all season is Nolan Schanuel.
Moncada also works counts and puts the ball in play better than some of the other options in the lineup.
Moncada was hitting .237, but with a .336 on-base percentage and an .841 OPS before getting hurt. He has six home runs in 30 games.
Stevens was optioned to make room for Moncada.
TOSSED
Angels players were grateful to see Montgomery get ejected for arguing balls and strikes on Monday night.
“Any manager that gets kicked out fires up the whole team and gets them locked in,” catcher Travis d’Arnaud said on Tuesday.
D’Arnaud did not want to make any comparison to Manager Ron Washington, who has not been thrown out in one and half seasons as the Angels manager.
Montgomery said Washington still had his players’ backs.
“You want your manager to fight for you and Wash did that too, whether he got thrown out or not,” Montgomery said.
Montgomery said he was reacting to Mike Trout’s reaction to a 3-and-2 pitch that he believed was low. Trout rarely says anything to umpires, but he was visibly upset at the call, so Montgomery let plate umpire Brock Ballou know how he felt.
Montgomery was also frustrated by a 3-and-2 pitch that was called against Jorge Soler with two outs and the bases loaded earlier in the game.
“There were things that got to that point where that was enough for me,” Montgomery said. “Those guys do a great job 99% of the time. But if you’re having a bad night, I’m gonna be aware.”
NOTES
Left-hander Sam Aldegheri was recalled to provide some coverage for a heavily worked bullpen. He replaced Victor Mederos, who was optioned. Aldegheri had been struggling in Double-A since returning from his cameo in the majors a month ago. In his last Double-A start, though, he pitched six innings and gave up one run. “I was just trying to throw all strikes,” Aldegheri said. “Pump the zone. Was feeling good on the mound. Just trying to attack the hitters and start ahead in the count right away.” …
The Angels did not have anything to release on right-hander Hunter Strickland’s MRI results. Strickland was scheduled for tests on his shoulder on Tuesday.
UP NEXT
Rangers (RHP Kumar Rocker, 3-4, 5.80 ERA) at Angels (RHP Kyle Hendricks, 5-6, 4.68 ERA), Wednesday, 6:38 p.m., FDSN West, 830 AM