ANAHEIM -- Jo Adell has been a streaky hitter throughout his career. Fortunately for the Angels, he’s been in the midst of one of his hot streaks over the last two weeks.
Adell kept it rolling against the Mariners on Saturday, going 3-for-3 with two homers, three RBIs and a walk to lead the Angels to an 8-6 win over the Mariners at Angel Stadium. It helped them secure a series victory, moving the Angels (30-33) just two games back of the Mariners (32-31) for second place in the American League West.
“I've been feeling really good,” Adell said. “I think the big thing that stands out is probably hitting fastballs in the zone, especially early in the count. Haven't let a lot of those go by. Like, three weeks ago, I think I was letting a lot of pitches over the plate in those counts where I'm used to being aggressive, so I really just kind of got back into that.”
Adell has been crushing the ball over his last 11 games, batting .382/.475/.882 with five homers, two doubles and five RBIs. It’s helped lift his slash line on the season from .184/.250/.353 to .224/.298/.459 with 11 homers and 29 RBIs in 55 games this year.
Angels manager Ron Washington has noticed Adell being more aggressive at the plate and wants to see him become more consistent going forward.
“The last couple weeks here, he’s not missing his pitches,” Washington said. “He's very aggressive early and seeing the ball well. Some pitches he wasn’t swinging at earlier, he's been swinging at now. He’s fighting pitches off, getting pitches back in the zone and barreling them up.”
Adell’s big night helped the Angels claw back from an early deficit, after right-hander Jack Kochanowicz served up a three-run homer to Cal Raleigh in the first inning on a ball that Adell couldn’t quite handle at the wall in center field.
“What's crazy about it is I actually jumped higher than what the ball required,” Adell said. “On that wall out there, it's kind of interesting. If any part of the ball touches that wall, it's a homer. So my immediate thought when I'm going back to the wall is trying to get as high as I can, to see if I could at least put a glove on it. But I jumped a hair too early. I wish I could have had it.”
Chris Taylor and Adell led the charge to atone for the missed catch attempt, connecting on solo homers in the second inning off veteran right-hander Luis Castillo. Adell crushed a first-pitch sinker a Statcast-projected 431 feet to left to reach double digits in homers on the season. He said his recent change in mentality helped him jump on a first-pitch fastball.
“There were at-bats two or three weeks ago where I was getting into 3-2 counts, kind of fouling pitches off, having good at bats, but I'd let some pitches go by early in the count that we thought collectively that I probably should be more aggressive on,” Adell said. “So that was definitely a conversation about what I'm looking at early in the count and understanding that these guys are trying to get ahead.”
After the Angels tied it on an RBI double from Taylor as part of a two-run third, keyed by sloppy defense from the Mariners, Adell gave the Angels the lead with another solo shot in the fourth. He absolutely demolished an 0-2 slider a projected 445 feet onto the rocks in left-center field. It was his seventh multi-homer game of his career and his third of the season.
“He wanted to sweep that away, I'm sure,” Adell said. “But I was on the fastball, and then when it presented itself middle in and kind of backed up a little bit, I was able to get it and kind of get under that pitch.”
Adell added a walk in the sixth that helped lead to a run on an RBI single from Zach Neto and later ripped an RBI single in the seventh to give the Angels an insurance run. They scored in six straight innings -- the first time they’ve done so since April 19, 2011 -- which helped make up for Kochanowicz lasting just 3 1/3 innings and surrendering four runs on nine hits and a walk.
“The offense picked me up tonight,” said Kochanowicz, whose ERA is now 5.61 after 13 starts. “And the bullpen was absolutely huge. They've been awesome lately. But, yeah, I just have to keep going.”