Angels place surging Anthony Rendon on IL with groin strain

The Los Angeles Angels placed third baseman Anthony Rendon on the injured list with a left groin strain and recalled infielder Livan Soto from Double-A Rocket City on Monday.

The club also reinstated catcher Chad Wallach from the concussion injured list and optioned catcher Chris Okey to Triple-A Salt Lake.

Rendon, 32, first felt discomfort after fielding a ground ball during Saturday's game against the Cleveland Guardians and did not play Sunday. He had been much improved after a slow start, batting .368 since April 24 to improve his overall batting average to .301 with 20 RBIs, but he still has just one home run.

In 1,103 games over 11 seasons with the Washington Nationals and Angels, Rendon is a career .285 hitter with an .846 OPS, 157 home runs and 655 RBIs.

Soto, 22, made his major league debut last season going 22-for-55 (.400) over 18 games with the Angels but was batting .170 in 30 minor league games this year.

Wallach, 31, was batting .267 with two home runs and six RBIs in 10 games with the Angels this season and is a career .205 hitter with six home runs and 30 RBIs over seven seasons (100 games) with the Angels, Miami Marlins and Cincinnati Reds.

Okey, 28, was 0-for-2 in two games with Los Angeles this season and is 2-for-14 in nine games for the Reds and Angels over the past two years.