The Los Angeles Angels optioned struggling left fielder Josh Lowe to Triple-A Salt Lake on Friday and placed third baseman Yoán Moncada on the 10-day injured list because of right knee inflammation.
The team promoted infielder Donovan Walton and outfielder Wade Meckler from Salt Lake. Both were in the lineup for Friday night’s series opener against the Texas Rangers, with Meckler in left field and Walton at third base.
Left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (shoulder inflammation) was transferred to the 60-day IL.
The left-handed-hitting Lowe, acquired last winter in a three-team trade from Tampa Bay, hit .184 with a .546 OPS, five homers, two doubles and 14 RBIs in 45 games with 39 strikeouts and six walks.
Lowe hit a two-run homer in the second inning Wednesday night against the Athletics, but he also committed two fielding errors — including one that cost the Angels a run in an eventual 6-5 loss in 10 innings.
“It’s definitely been a grind,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “We want him to take a step back, maybe take some pressure off of him, go down there, where there’s not so much focus on success, and work on what he needs to work on. We expect him back soon.”
The Angels were hoping the 28-year-old Lowe could reprise the 2023 season he had with the Rays, when he hit .292 with an .835 OPS, 20 homers and 83 RBIs in 135 games. But Lowe’s 60-year-old mother, Wendy, died of brain cancer in early March and he got off to a slow start, batting .091 with a .423 OPS in his first 12 games.
The switch-hitting Moncada, 30, who returned to the Angels on a one-year, $4-million deal last winter, is batting .189 with a .605 OPS, three homers, one double and 10 RBIs in 41 games, with 45 strikeouts and 17 walks.
He has also been a liability on defense, committing two errors and accumulating minus-5 outs above average according to Fangraphs, second-worst among 26 big league third basemen with at least 220 innings at the position.
The right knee injury that Moncada suffered last year flared up recently and has made it difficult for him to hit from the right side, where he is 1 for 21 with 12 strikeouts this season. He underwent an MRI test Friday, the results of which were not immediately available.
“He said (the knee) has been bothering him for some time now, and he just felt it was time to say something, get it looked at,” Suzuki said. “It was annoying more than anything.”
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