Wake-up call! Adell's bases-clearing triple jolts Guardians' bats

CHICAGO -- Jo Adell has his first signature postseason moment, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for the Guardians.

With the Guardians facing elimination in Game 3 of the American League Division Series on Wednesday, Adell smashed a bases-clearing triple in the third inning that gave Cleveland a 4-1 lead over the White Sox.

Adell sliced a 1-2 four-seam fastball from lefty Hagen Smith down the first-base line and into the right-field corner, silencing a raucous crowd at Rate Field energized by a White Sox squad one win away from a trip to the ALCS. After Adell dove in safely at third base, he jumped to his feet and unleashed a massive fist pump likely shared by everyone watching back in Northeast Ohio.

Adell is playing in the postseason for the first time this year, after he spent the first six-and-a-half years of his career watching from his couch as a member of the Angels. The Guardians acquired him before the Trade Deadline in August, and it took him all of three games to make history.

Adell’s knock was the fourth game-tying or go-ahead triple in Cleveland postseason history, following Omar Vizquel (Game 2 of the 1999 ALDS, Game 3 of the 1995 World Series) and Vic Wertz (Game 1 of the 1954 World Series).

Adell is also only the second Cleveland player with multiple triples in a single postseason series, joining Kenny Lofton (1995 ALCS). Adell hit an RBI triple in the Guardians’ 4-3 loss in Game 2, on a Statcast-projected 413-foot fly ball off the 19-foot wall at Progressive Field that just came shy of clearing the wall.

Lofton hit two triples in 50 career postseason games for Cleveland. Adell has two in three contests.