Adell kicks off career night with HR rolling in the deep LF bleachers

CLEVELAND -- The first-inning drive by outfielder Jo Adell on Tuesday left teammate Austin Hedges’ jaw agape and his hands on his head. It kick-started a career night for Adell, got Progressive Field rocking and the Guardians rolling as they began one of their most critical stretches of the season.

Adell’s Statcast-projected 455-foot three-run homer sent the Guardians on their way to an 8-1 win over the Giants in the opener of a three-game series. The 27-year-old finished 3-for-4 with a career-high six RBIs, and he set a new career high for his longest home run.

However, Adell’s performance was somewhat overshadowed by concerns over his premature exit from the game. The Guardians pulled him in the eighth inning due to lingering soreness in his left knee, which he fouled a pitch off of moments before his home run.

The club later said Adell has a left knee contusion, but his status will be an ongoing situation.

“Jo obviously fouled that ball off his knee pretty hard,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “He was feeling some pretty good pain as the game went on. We’re going to have to evaluate him day to day.”

That development put a bit of a damper on the night, but Cleveland (61-65) needed a complete and convincing win like this after it entered the day 9-19 since the All-Star break. The Guardians are still alive in an American League postseason picture full of parity, but it’s no secret they need to halt this slide and turn the tide.

If they’re going to do so, now is the time.

The Guardians will end August facing teams that entered Tuesday with four of the five worst records in the Majors. The Giants (51-73), Rockies (50-75), Angels (49-76) and Royals (52-74) entered the day with a combined record of 202-298, good for a .404 winning percentage.

Yes, any team can win on any day in the big leagues. No, you can’t take any team for granted. But if the Guardians are true contenders and serious about making a run toward the postseason over the next six weeks, they’ll show us by taking care of business here.

Adell got Cleveland off and running.

He stepped to the plate in the first after a Steven Kwan leadoff walk and a José Ramírez single. On the fourth pitch of the sequence, he fouled a 93.7 mph four-seam fastball from starter Carson Whisenhunt off his left knee, which prompted a visit from trainer Jeff Desjardins and Vogt.

Adell stayed in the game, and three pitches later belted a 2-2 changeup from Whisenhunt that landed over three-quarters of the way up the left-field bleachers. It marked the longest home run of Adell’s big league career (he hit a projected 514-foot homer in Triple-A for the Angels on June 21, 2023) and the longest at Progressive Field this season.

The home run was the sixth-longest by a right-handed hitter at the ballpark under Statcast tracking (since 2015), including the regular season and postseason. Avisail García (464 feet on Sept. 12, 2021, with the Brewers) holds that high watermark.

“That was one of the louder cracks of the bat I've heard this year,” said starter Foster Griffin, who allowed one run on five hits and two walks with six strikeouts over six innings. “I don’t know how many balls have been put up there in that section here, but that was impressive.”

Adell added a two-run single in the second and an RBI single in the fourth. Petey Halpin entered in his place in the eighth. Given how his night ended, the production Adell delivered is even more impressive.

Our attention now turns to his status.

The Guardians acquired Adell, Griffin and first baseman Nathaniel Lowe in separate deals before the Trade Deadline on Aug. 3. They landed the right-handed-hitting Adell to balance out a lineup mix that has leaned left-handed, and one that lacked many hitters with his power potential.

Adell has hit 19 home runs between the Angels and Guardians this season. No Cleveland player has hit more than 13, a total reached by Rhys Hoskins, Kyle Manzardo and Chase DeLauter, the latter of whom Vogt said was unavailable Tuesday with left hamstring tightness.

The Guardians have outfield depth if Adell needs to miss any time. Suffice to say, that’s not how they pictured this going when they acquired him to help their postseason push. Of course, none of this has gone how any of us pictured it.

The Guardians have been scuffling. They know where they stand in the season. It’s time to get this thing moving in the right direction.

“The sense of urgency is there, for sure,” Griffin said. “I don't think there's any sort of panic in the clubhouse.”