David Freese scratched from Angels lineup; reliever Josh Wall recalled

DETROIT -- Angels third baseman David Freese was scratched from the lineup Friday night because of tightness in his right quadriceps, but the injury is not believed to be serious. Ian Stewart will start in his place against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.

Freese showed some signs of emerging from an early season funk when he singled twice in four at-bats and drove in a run Tuesday night against the Oakland Athletics.

But he went hitless in six at-bats in a win over the A’s on Wednesday night, his average falling to .151 with a .207 on-base percentage and .208 slugging percentage. His .414 OPS (on-base plus slugging) is the third lowest in baseball.

“We’re going to monitor it,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “He might be available to do something today, but right now, we don’t want to push it.”

The Angels also made roster move before Friday night’s game, recalling reliever Josh Wall from triple-A Salt Lake and sending left-hander Jose Alvarez, who had been working out of the bullpen, back to triple-A to get some starts.

Wall, who spent parts of the 2012 and 2013 seasons with the Dodgers and was claimed off waivers from Miami last October, has a 1-1 record and 12.08 earned-run average in 13 major league appearances. He had a 2.16 ERA in six appearances at Salt Lake.

“We want Jose to go down there and get stretched out because he is on our depth chart as a starter,” Scioscia said. “And Josh is throwing the ball well. He has a nice power right-handed arm, and we’ll see where he fits in.”