ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Davis Daniel provided his second straight rough outing, while the Angels' lineup could not do enough to overcome the deficit in a 9-4 loss to the Texas Rangers on Monday night at Angel Stadium.

Daniel (1-2) faced some pesky hitting early, leaving him fighting for control throughout his start. He took his second consecutive loss and the first of his career at Angel Stadium.

He was able to remain in the game for just 3 2/3 innings, before being replaced by Carson Fullmer. Daniel walked none and struck out three, but allowed a season-high eight hits along the way. In what was his shortest outing this year as well, he also threw just 61 pitches (43 strikes).

The lineup showed some fight in the early innings after going down 3-0. A Mickey Moniak triple and Jo Adell single even helped Los Angeles to claim a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the second. However, they would be outscored 7-1 the rest of the way as the Rangers poured on 12 hits total. 

Los Angeles is now 37-53 and 18-27 at home. They will look to avoid another losing streak on Tuesday in what will be a tough game against Max Scherzer.

Here are three takeaways:

ANTHONY RENDON RETURNS

Rendon found himself back in the lineup for the first time since April 20, getting the start at third base and leading off.

Before the game, the 34-year-old spoke about his emotions regarding his return. “Long time coming, ready to keep on going…finish the second half strong.” He will do his best to try and remain healthy for the rest of the season, a task that has not been very easy during his time with the Angels.

He admitted that he was nervous to return after missing over two months. “You still get nerves every single day you go out on the field, whether you’re playing every single day or whether it’s been three months…”.

The third baseman finished 1-4 in the loss, contributing an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning.

He managed to hit the ball hard, twice coming through with balls of the bat containing an exit velocity of 100 plus MPH. His RBI hit came off the bat at 100.1.

Prior to his injury, Rendon had started to heat up with the bat in his hands. He was able to bury an 0-21 stretch to start the season by hitting .313 across 16 games in April. He will look to continue the high-average hitting that was on display before his injury, now having reached base safely in 15 consecutive games.

According to Rendon, the plan is for him to DH in Tuesday’s game, before returning to the field to play third base again on Wednesday. He will do his best to ease back into things without risking another injury.

DANIEL STRUGGLES AGAIN

The third start of Davis Daniel’s big league career did not go as planned. In his second start at Angel Stadium, the right-hander was never able to get comfortable.

He started the game off in an unfortunate fashion, allowing a 0-2 bloop single to Marcus Semien. Daniel then worked ahead of the next batter, Corey Seager, 0-2 before he blasted a monster two-run home run.

Seager became just the tenth player in the Statcast era to hit a home run 455 feet or longer at Angel Stadium.

Following the game, manager Ron Washington spoke on his starter's struggle to put away the first two batters of the game after getting ahead 0-2. "He made a real good pitch to Marcus [Semien] but he stayed on it, just pushed it over [the] shortstop's head," he said. "Then you got two strikes on Seager, and a fastball up..and he didn't miss it. Once he got two strikes on the hitters, he just couldn't put 'em away."

Daniel was removed with two outs in the fourth following a two-run single from Semien. On the day, he finished with seven earned runs. The 27-year-old has now allowed four or more runs and seven or more hits in each of his past two starts.

The recent regression comes as somewhat of a surprise considering the success that the rookie had in his debut. After pitching 16 scoreless innings with 11 total strikeouts (2-0) in his career at Angel Stadium, Monday’s start came as a rude awakening.

He has now allowed 11 runs and 15 hits across his last nine innings. Now holding a 5.28 ERA, Daniel will look to readjust and return to the form that fans saw in his first start.

MONIAK DELIVERS EARLY

Starting in center field, Mickey Moniak was one of two hitters in the Angels’ lineup to record a multi-hit game.

He struck first in the bottom of the second inning, contributing his biggest moment of the evening. The 26-year-old drilled a two-run triple down the right field line, helping Los Angeles temporarily even the score at 2.

He would then come around to score on the RBI single from Jo Adell. Moniak’s second hit of the night was a single in the seventh inning.

The triple was just the second of the season for the center fielder, who has struggled to hit for average. It was the second multi-hit game for Moniak since June 24, and his first game with an RBI since June 26.

June was the best month of the season for him despite hitting just .237 across 24 games. After playing 85 games last year and hitting .280, his performance thus far has been slightly disappointing. With the All-Star break quickly approaching, perhaps Moniak will be able to set his sights on a much improved second half. Despite the loss, he was a nice contributor out of the seventh spot in the lineup.

The Angels and Rangers will meet for the second game of the series at 6:38 on Tuesday night. Los Angeles right-hander Roansy Contreras (1-1, 4.04 ERA) will start against Texas right-hander Max Scherzer (1-1, 2.70 ERA). Scherzer will make just his fourth start of the season after returning from injury on June 23.