Matthews will sit for now

Angels Manager Mike Scioscia benched slumping Gary Matthews Jr. on Wednesday and said he wasn’t sure how long it would be before the outfielder returned to the lineup.

“He’s got to get into his game,” Scioscia said of Matthews, who is batting .186 with only two extra-base hits since June 19. “I don’t know where we’re going to be tomorrow or a week from now. But I do know that it’s very clear -- and Gary said it very clearly too -- he’s not where he needs to be.”

Juan Rivera started in Matthews’ place, hitting a home run and driving in three runs, giving him more than twice as many runs batted in (seven) in three July starts as he has in the rest of the season. And Scioscia said he expects Rivera to get the bulk of the playing time in the outfield as long as Matthews is out.

“I don’t think we have to commit to any future lineups right now,” said Scioscia, who met with Matthews and hitting coach Mickey Hatcher. “But right now, Juan’s a guy we want to get some at-bats for and we’re going to take it day by day.”

More Matthews

Matthews, who has struggled at the plate all season, appeared to have figured things out in early June when he went on an eight-game hitting streak, batting .469 to raise his season average 33 points to .249. But his average has fallen steadily since, leading Scioscia to conclude that Matthews may benefit more from a break than from trying to play through his slump.

“There’s times to grind it out to see if a guy’s going to make progress,” Scioscia said of Matthews, who is also battling a sore left knee, according to the manager. “And [there are] certainly times to get off that treadmill and kind of catch your breath a little bit and maybe get a little different feel, some perspective, find the swing, get into some kind of a rhythm.”

Second guesses

When Michael Young, representing the tying run, stole his way into scoring position in the ninth inning Wednesday, it left first base open. But Scioscia elected to pitch to Texas Rangers All-Star Josh Hamilton, the major league’s leader in runs batted in, rather than walk him and face rookie David Murphy, who has driven in 58 runs.

And that call cost him dearly when Hamilton hit a game-winning homer against closer Francisco Rodriguez.

“It’s almost pick your poison,” Scioscia said. “If we don’t pitch to Hamilton, you’re pitching to Murphy.”

Rodriguez agreed with the strategy.

“I don’t want to put the go-ahead run on base,” he said.

One that got away

Signed as an outfielder out of the Dominican Republic in 2001 and converted to a pitcher full time last season, rookie Warner Madrigal, who started against the Angels on Wednesday, was declared a minor league free agent last fall after the Angels committed a procedural gaffe while trying to re-sign him.

And the Rangers, noting the right-hander’s 75 strikeouts in 61 innings at Class-A Cedar Rapids, snapped him up.

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kevin.baxter@latimes.com