Angels lose Gio Urshela with fractured pelvis

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Angels only had to place one of their two ailing infielders on the injured list on Friday, but that one isn’t coming back anytime soon.

Gio Urshela was diagnosed with a fractured pelvis, which is expected to keep him out for a matter of months. A more precise timeline will be determined after Urshela undergoes further tests in Southern California on Monday.

The better news was that X-rays of Anthony Rendon’s left wrist came back clean, so the third baseman is day to day with a bruise. Rendon was hit by a pitch in the first inning on Thursday, but he remained in the game even though he couldn’t swing a bat.

Manager Phil Nevin said Rendon is “sore” and having “a hard time moving his wrist” on Friday, but the injury was apparently not severe enough for the Angels to even put him on the 10-day injured list.

Urshela, though, is going to be out “a significant amount of time,” Nevin said.

“You feel for him,” Nevin said. “He’s crushed.”

Urshela was lunging to try to beat out a double play – and get the Angels their first run of the game – during the first inning on Thursday. After he hit the bag, he lost his balance. He tried to stay on his feet, but he crumpled to the ground. He lay in pain for a few minutes. He managed to play the bottom of the first inning at first base, but that was it.

The injury comes just a day after the Angels placed shortstop Zach Neto on the injured list with a strained oblique.

With Urshela out indefinitely and Rendon out for at least a day or two, the Angels brought infielder Michael Stefanic up from Triple-A. David Fletcher, who would have been a natural choice to add to the roster, is currently on the bereavement list.

The Angels now have Brandon Drury and Luis Rengifo to play third, Andrew Velazquez and Rengifo at shortstop, Drury and Rengifo at second and Jared Walsh and Drury at first base.

The Angels also had outfielders Taylor Ward and Hunter Renfroe working out at first base before Friday’s game. Both have played a few major league games at the position.

The Angels had hoped Walsh would be producing at first base, but he’s slumped ever since he returned from the injured list. He came into Friday’s game hitting .119, including an 0-for-25 slump that he snapped with a double on Thursday night.

The Angels are expecting to face three right-handed starters this weekend in Kansas City, so Nevin views that as an opportunity to get Walsh going.

“He smoked a ball in the corner yesterday on a good fastball,” Nevin said. “Everybody’s got to join in here. It’s the next-man-up mentality. We’re confident that Walshy can get going this weekend and help us out a lot, but we certainly do have other guys that we’re going to put over there and work.”

SECOND CHANCE

Stefanic hit .197 with a .509 OPS in 69 major league plate appearances last season, which prompted him to spend the winter trying to get the ball in the air more.

“Obviously the first taste of the big leagues prove that unless you’re hitting the ball 110 mph on the ground, it’s hard to get hits through there,” Stefanic said.

This year at Triple-A, he was hitting .347 with an .895 OPS, including an on-base streak of 62 games, dating to last season.

Stefanic said he didn’t think much about the streak until the day it ended. He was working a kids clinic earlier that day, and “about 50 parents came up to me and kept saying, the streak, the streak. I don’t want to say they jinxed me, but it was on my mind a lot more and the pitcher had a good game.”

WHO’S CALLING?

Nevin acknowledged he was responsible for the miscommunication that led to relief pitcher Jacob Webb being called into Thursday’s game before he was ready.

Normally, pitching coach Matt Wise would call the bullpen to tell them to get a reliever up, but Wise was at the mound meeting with closer Carlos Estévez, so Nevin made the call himself and apparently didn’t correctly convey exactly what he wanted.

Nevin said it was the first time he’d used the bullpen phone since the incident last season when the Angels and Seattle Mariners got into a fight. Nevin called the bullpen that day, and that provided evidence that Major League Baseball used to suspend him for 10 games for orchestrating the brawl.

“A little learning moment,” Nevin said. “I gotta get my wording right. But I’m trying to avoid that phone as much as possible.”

NOTES

Left-handed reliever Matt Moore (oblique) extended his throwing out to 120 feet, Nevin said. The Angels are targeting Tuesday for him to begin throwing off a mound. Nevin did not give a timeline for how long after that it would take for him to be active. …

Right-hander Chris Rodriguez (shoulder surgery) is looking like he won’t be able to pitch this season, Nevin said. Rodriguez was making progress through spring training, but he’s had several setbacks since then. “I don’t anticipate seeing him,” Nevin said. “He’s still having some hiccups here and there. We’re not really finding anything (new), but the shoulder and the surgery he had is a very tricky one.” …

There is no more of a timeline for left-hander José Suarez (shoulder) to return, but Nevin said “it’s basically like another spring training” for him.