ARLINGTON, Texas — After fouling a ball off his shin on Tuesday night, Tommy La Stella was in the Angels’ trainers room on a table, laying with his eyes closed, when Billy Eppler came and put his hand on La Stella’s chest.

“He opened his eyes and they were welling a little bit, and mine started as well,” the Angels’ general manager said. “This guy has gotten an opportunity and he made the most of it to the point that he got elected to the All-Star Game, and now it’s gone for a while.”

La Stella was diagnosed with a fractured right tibia, an injury that will cost him eight to 10 weeks and a chance to play in the All-Star Game. Tampa Bay infielder Brandon Lowe was named to the team to replace La Stella. La Stella is still a member of the team and could still take part in the festivities, but he said on Wednesday he hadn’t given any thought to whether he’d want to do that.

Standing with the aid of crutches as he spoke to reporters on Wednesday, La Stella spoke in short sentences, clearly still upset over what has been a nightmare week.

“With what we’re dealing with right now,” La Stella said, “this is kind of meaningless.”

The shocking death of teammate Tyler Skaggs, of course, still casts a shadow over the team, with the news about La Stella’s injury simply piling on a little more adversity.

“The entire team feels awful for Tommy,” Manager Brad Ausmus said. “He came over here and has had this break-out season, named to the All-Star team, and six days before the break he gets a two-month injury. You just feel awful for Tommy.”

The Angels also lost Brian Goodwin, who was hit in the right wrist by a pitch on Tuesday. Goodwin did not suffer any fractures, so his stint on the injured list will be much shorter. Although Eppler wasn’t sure how long Goodwin would be out, next week’s All-Star break made placing him on the 10-day injured list an easy decision.

“Those guys have been very important pieces to our club and for our season to date,” Eppler said. “Goody and Tommy were helping carry us a large portion of April and May… It’s a loss.”

The injuries to La Stella and Goodwin created opportunities for Matt Thaiss and Jarrett Parker, who were both recalled.

Thaiss, one of the Angels’ top prospects, was the organization’s first-round pick in 2016. Thaiss, 24, was a catcher in college, but the Angels immediately moved him to first base, and this season they began having him play third base. He has played mostly third over the past several weeks. Thaiss was in the starting lineup at third on Wednesday.

“It’s going to be a little foreign to him,” Eppler said of the position. “We understand that. We understand it’s not a finished product but we’ll find spots for him to get in the lineup and make an impact.”

Thaiss was hitting .274 with 14 homers and an .867 OPS at Triple-A. Over the past 30 days, though, he’d hit .330 with seven homers and 1.102 OPS. Thaiss had worked to make some swing changes, and Eppler said he’d improved his plate discipline.

Parker, 30, returned to the majors for the first time since 2017. He missed all of last season after undergoing surgery on a fractured collarbone. He was hitting .296 with 19 homers and a 1.028 OPS at Triple-A.

ALSO

The full field for the Home Run Derby was announced, without Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani said after Wednesday’s game that he was never asked. Major League Baseball officials, who certainly would have wanted the attention Ohtani would bring to the Derby, may have been leery of putting the Angels in position to prevent him from competing. Ohtani is rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. Ohtani said again on Wednesday that he’d like to participate sometime: “This isn’t the last year,” he said through his interpreter. “It’s going to happen every single year, and I’m sure I’ll have a chance somewhere down the road.”…

The Angels recalled pitcher Jaime Barria and had him start on Wednesday, instead of Griffin Canning, who was moved back to Thursday. The Angels had originally planned to have Barria start later in the week, but this prevented him from getting too much rest since his previous outing was June 26, and it allowed Canning to get an extra day. The Angels have scheduled Felix Peña, Andrew Heaney and Jose Suarez to pitch over the weekend in Houston. …

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Angels get an optimistic glimpse of the future in win over Padres The Angels added three players and placed two on the injured list on Wednesday. They had played with a 24-man roster on Tuesday night. …

Pitcher Matt Harvey joined the team a day after throwing four innings in a Class-A game on Tuesday. Eppler said they were encouraged with Harvey’s performance, and he will have at least one more outing in the minors. Ausmus said it was possible Harvey could be activated after the All-Star break. …

Keynan Middleton, who is rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, pitched in a simulated game on Tuesday and will begin a rehab assignment “shortly,” Eppler said. …

UP NEXT

Angels (RHP Griffin Canning, 3-4, 3.79) vs. Rangers (RHP Lance Lynn, 10-4, 4.00), Thursday, 5:05­ p.m., Fox Sports West, 830 AM