Pulling Anthony Rendon worked last night but shouldn't be a daily occurrence

The Los Angeles Angels enjoyed a thrilling come-from-behind victory last night against the Chicago Cubs to open up their stretch against mostly bad opponents. The Halos trailed 4-0 in the second after Tyler Anderson allowed four runs, but thanks to a five-run fifth and a couple of other scattered runs, the Halos won 7-4.

There're a lot of good moments to take from this game. Taylor Ward continued to swing an improved bat with a home run. Shohei Ohtani also went deep. Matt Thaiss and yes, even Mike Trout came up with huge clutch singles. Chris Devenski recorded five king-sized outs and Carlos Estevez converted his 15th straight save to start the season.

This was a good win for the Angels, but one thing really stood out to me. This was the return of Anthony Rendon from the Injured List, but he only played five innings. This should not be an everyday thing.

LA Angels pulling Anthony Rendon worked last night but should not be a daily occurrence.

Anthony Rendon is officially healthy again, and found himself in his usual clean-up spot last night. Rendon went hitless in two at-bats but did draw a walk. He then, for some reason, was pulled after just five innings which caused Angels fans to start freaking out. With Rendon's injury history especially since coming to the Angels, it's completely justified to expect the worst whenever he comes out of a game.

It turns out, Phil Nevin just removed Rendon from the game for defensive purposes. Jared Walsh came in to play first base, and Gio Urshela slid over from first across the diamond to his natural position of third base.

We saw this change for defense pay immediate dividends in the sixth inning, as with a runner on first and one out, Urshela made a great play to get a force play at second base for a key second out. This was a play I'm not sure Anthony Rendon makes.

While it worked out last night, this change isn't one I'd make daily. Pulling Anthony Rendon for defense is one thing as Urshela is an elite defender at third base, but doing it in the sixth inning? Really?

Pulling one of your best hitters that early with only a two-run lead is certainly a risk. Jared Walsh has not been productive offensively while Rendon is the Angels best clutch hitter.

I would not have made the move as early as Nevin did because you're taking the bat out of Rendon's hands late. If you can't trust him to play more than five innings, why even start him to begin with?

If you want to make this switch in the eighth or ninth with a slim lead I'm all for it, but the sixth feels very early. It worked last night, but if the Cubs found a way to tie the game or take the lead, the Angels would've regretted pulling Rendon as early as they did.