Anthony Rendon sits with sore oblique in Angels exhibition opener

At long last, we have Angels baseball on television. After 17 days of workouts and intrasquad games at Angel Stadium, the Halos are actually facing another team on Monday night.

The Angels are in San Diego to face the Padres on Monday night at Petco Park, the first of three exhibition games set for the Angels in preparation for Friday’s regular season opener in Oakland. The Angels and Padres will also play on Wednesday night in Anaheim, with the Halos mixing in a trip to Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night as well.

Monday night’s game, a 6:10 p.m. PT start, will be televised by Fox Sports West.

Anthony Rendon’s oblique is still sore, and is out of the lineup. His status for Opening Day Friday in Oakland remains unknown.

“We’re going to be slow with it for the next couple of days. I don’t know where that puts him in regard to the end of the week,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said via conference call Monday.

Matt Thaiss gets the call at third base in this game. Maddon said David Fletcher is the likely fill-in at the hot corner once the regular season starts if Rendon is unavailable. Fletcher starts at second base Monday night in San Diego.

Tommy La Stella for the Angels on Monday gets the start at first base, a position he’s played all of four games and 5⅓ defensive innings at in six years in the majors. Though he did see time at the position during summer camp.

Griffin Canning starts for the Angels on Monday in San Diego, facing former Angels pitcher Garrett Richards, making this a battle between a former Angels second-round pick (Canning, 2017) and first-round pick (Richards, 2009). Canning is expected to pitch five or six innings, per Maddon.

Felix Pena will start for the Angels on Tuesday night in Los Angeles against the Dodgers, with Patrick Sandoval starting on Wednesday against the Padres in Anaheim to conclude the exhibition season.

Game info

Teams: Angels at Padres

Location: Petco Park, San Diego

Time: 6:10 p.m. PT

TV: Fox Sports West