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.
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 seventh pitch of his sequence, Adell got a 2-2 changeup from starter Carson Whisenhunt and sent it over the 19-foot wall and over three-quarters of the way up the left-field bleachers.
It marked the longest home run of Adell’s career, the longest at Progressive Field this season and 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.
Adell added a two-run single in the second and an RBI single in the fourth.