Angels Ran Into Some Cheating Issues During Cardinals Series

More players trying to take advantage of the pitch clock.

The Los Angeles Angels are in the midst of one of their best stretches all season. April was the month for them getting accustomed to all of the new rules and a new roster as well but now it's looking the dominoes are starting to fall into place and look no further than their dominant series against the St.Louis Cardinals.

They were able to take home all three away games in impressive fashion that saw Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, and Jake Lamb among other on the team shine. The Halos were able to amass over five runs in each victory and the pitching was looking very solid as well.

However, even though the Angels came out on top in each outing, they were not about to stand for cheating of any form and they specifically ran into some issues regarding the Cardinals' catcher, Wilson Contreras.

Contreras, on multiple occasions, was trying to toy with LA's pitchers by making eye contact with them whenever it was his turn to bat and standing in the box but not being in his swinging stance. It was suspected that this was his effort to get some easy quick pitch violations.

The OC Register's Jeff Fletcher provided some excellent insight on the matter.

"Something to look for tonight: the #Angels were frustrated with Willson Contreras yesterday because he seemed to trying to trap pitchers into the clock violations by the way he approached the pitcher in the box. He was looking at the pitcher but not "engaged" with the pitcher."

The MLB's Rhett Bollinger noticed it as well, reporting that team manager Phil Nevin brought it to the umpire's attention.

"It just happened again with Ohtani on the mound on a 1-2 count. But on the next pitch, Ohtani struck him out to end the first. Nevin is out talking to HP ump Marvin Hudson right now in between innings."

(Via MLB.com)

Nonetheless, it did not end up playing a big role in the outcome of the games but it's something watch out for moving forward.

In this new era of the pitch clock, players will try to find loopholes wherever they can.