ST. PETERSBURG -- At long last, Justin Upton is closing in on his Angels return. The outfielder was scheduled to play nine innings at Class A Advanced Inland Empire for the second consecutive night on Friday.

Halos manager Brad Ausmus wasn’t certain whether Upton, who’s on the 60-day injured list with turf toe on his left foot, would play one more game with the 66ers. Ausmus said Thursday that it was “possible” his outfielder would rejoin the team during the second leg of its road trip, in Toronto, which begins Monday.

Upton’s imminent return means the Angels have some difficult decisions on the horizon, most notably how the outfield will shake out and how Brian Goodwin and Cesar Puello will be affected by the shuffle.

Each has performed admirably while filling the hole left by Upton. Goodwin brings with him the advantage of a left-handed bat and has hit .287 this season with 11 doubles, a triple, six homers and 23 RBIs in 61 games. Puello has a much smaller sample size -- just 10 games entering Friday -- but is slashing .417/.523/.750 with three doubles, three home runs, 11 RBIs and a 1.273 OPS during that time.

“It’s obviously on the horizon but we haven’t made any decisions,” Ausmus said. “[They’re playing] fantastic. That’s what we wanted. We wanted them to play so we would have a tough decision.

“[I] kind of said that when Upton went down, you get a couple of guys that come in and perform at a level that was unexpected while the injured player is down … [you can] at the very least stay afloat.”

Walking wounded
• David Fletcher (left shoulder soreness) returned to the lineup a day after being scratched just prior to Thursday’s first pitch. Tommy La Stella was scratched late Friday with what the Angels called left forearm tightness.