Angels Star Leaves With Apparent Arm Injury Against Guardians

Los Angeles Angels' Luis Rengifo leaves the game against the Cleveland Guardians.

The Cleveland Guardians traveled to the West Coast to open up a four-game series with the Los Angeles Angels. One player who was high on their scouting report was infielder Luis Rengifo.

Not a lot has gone right for the Angels over the last month with Shohei Ohtani going down with an elbow injury, the organization waiving some of their quality players, and seemingly falling out of the playoff picture.

One bright spot in all of this has been Rengifo who is fresh off winning American League Players of the Week for the first month of September. The 26-year-old wrapped up the month of August hitting .327/.391/.520 establishing himself as a future star for this team.

It doesn't appear that the Guardians will see Rengifo for the rest of the series following an awkward play on Thursday night. 

Rengifo was in the on-deck circle taking practice swings for his first at-bat of the game when he went down holding his arm. Los Angeles' athletic trainer came to the scene and eventually decided it was time for him to leave the game. 

It was tough to see the budding star in so much pain and leave the game prematurely and hopefully, he will end up being alright.

Sep 6, 2023; Anaheim, California, USA; Los Angeles Angels shortstop Luis Rengifo (2) runs around bases after hitting a 2-run home run during the third inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports

This injury does affect Cleveland's game plan if he's out for the rest of the series. The Guardians were likely prepared to pitch around him or avoid giving him too many pitches Rengifo could do anything with considering how hot he's been.

There's no official word from the organization yet as to why Rengifo left the game.