Jo Adell had the perfect role model during his six-plus seasons with the Los Angeles Angels.
Now that he’s with the Cleveland Guardians, he’s putting many of his lessons learned from three-time American League MVP Mike Trout to good use.
Adell will face his former teammate for the first time since the Angels traded him to the Guardians on Aug. 3, likely starting in right field when Cleveland opens a three-game series on Monday night in Anaheim, Calif.
“He’s unbelievable at setting up at-bats and getting his pitch,” Adell said of Trout. “Watching him just really destroy those pitches and really set the pitcher up to be able to get them and not miss them. … I had front-row seats for a while.”
Adell has 17 RBIs through his first 17 games with the Guardians, who have won four games in a row to pull even with the Texas Rangers in the chase for the final wild-card berth in the American League.
“Obviously, it’s my first time being traded, but coming in, the focus was just about how to put wins up and to be yourself, and they made that crystal clear when I got here,” Adell said. “My focus is to help this team and drive some runs in when I get the opportunity, and things have been good so far.”
Left-hander Parker Messick (9-8, 2.54 ERA) will start for the Guardians on Monday.
Messick comes in with the third-best ERA in the American League behind Cam Schlittler (2.16) of the New York Yankees and Dylan Cease (2.37) of the Toronto Blue Jays.
Messick has suffered from a lack of run support at times, including in his past two starts. He held the Detroit Tigers to two runs over 5 2/3 innings on Aug. 13, but the Guardians were blanked 3-0. Messick surrendered one run over 6 2/3 innings last Wednesday against the San Francisco Giants, but again Cleveland couldn’t muster any runs and lost 1-0.
“Anytime you’re not scoring runs, it’s very frustrating, especially when your pitchers are out there dominating,” Guardians catcher Austin Hedges said. “We only gave up one run (against the Giants). Obviously, we expect to win those games.”
Messick made his only start against the Angels on May 13 and earned the win after limiting them to two runs and four hits in 5 2/3 innings of a 4-2 victory in Cleveland.
The Angels are returning home after going 3-3 on a six-game road trip through Texas.
Los Angeles had a chance to win a second straight road series for the first time since last year but lost 5-3 to the Rangers on Sunday. Angels left-hander Yusei Kikuchi struggled in his return from a nearly four-month absence due to shoulder problems, giving up five runs over five innings.
The Angels will send rookie right-hander George Klassen to the mound against Cleveland on Monday.
Klassen (2-1, 3.74 ERA) has made five MLB starts this season and three in a row since his most recent recall from the minors on Aug. 7.
He was nearly unhittable in his most recent outing Tuesday against the Houston Astros, allowing just one hit over seven scoreless innings in a 3-1 win.
“That was some of the best stuff we’ve seen all year,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “Attacking with his fastball and pretty nasty sliders, but I think it was more commanding the zone, getting ahead and really just on the attack. He didn’t make it too complicated, knew what he did best and went after them.”
–Field Level Media
