The Los Angeles Angels pulled third baseman Luis Rengifo from Friday's 7-5 loss to the Houston Astros after not hustling for a ground ball off Jose Abreu's bat, which allowed a run to score.
Luis Rengifo boots a grounder and then takes his time getting to the ball he booted into the outfield: pic.twitter.com/66TtiifTwC
— Beyond The Halo (@BeyondTheHalo) July 15, 2023
"You guys saw the play," Angels manager Phil Nevin said, according to Jeff Fletcher of the OC Register. "It speaks for itself. There's certain things I’m just not going to tolerate. And I didn't think he gave it the best effort. He knew exactly what we're talking about. … I think maybe the run would have scored anyway, but Abreu getting to second was unacceptable."
Rengifo acknowledged his mistake and plans to learn from the experience.
"I think I can do a better effort on that, which I learned from that," Rengifo said through an interpreter.
The Angels dropped a sixth straight game and are 1-7 this July. Los Angeles entered play Saturday six games back of a wild-card spot in the American League.
