Giants Manager Names One Issue They Faced In Guardians’ Lineup

The Cleveland Guardians won 8-1 in Tuesday night’s opener against the San Francisco Giants. They badly needed a victory, and got it thanks, in large part, to a certain outfielder they acquired before the trade deadline.

Former Angel Jo Adell was a menace for the Giants, racking up three hits, including a 455-foot home run, and driving in six of the Guardians’ eight runs. That’s right:  at one point, the game was 6-1, and the powerful slugger had driven in every run.

When asked after the game what went wrong for his team, Giants manager Tony Vitello was very specific in his answer. We don’t need to be geniuses to infer that he mentioned Adell as the main reason behind the lopsided loss.

“Adell was the issue, for sure, tonight,” said Vitello, per Cleveland.com. “Adell was the problem, and the other guys hit us too.”

Vitello did point out that the Guardians’ offense as a group did damage, not just Adell. They accumulated 12 hits as a unit, so there were nine that didn’t belong to the athletic outfielder. Still, the slugger was a problem for San Francisco.

Adell is a solid major leaguer with power, athleticism, and flair. However, he is at his best when there’s a left-hander on the mound. He’s a beast in those situations, and proved it against Giants southpaw Carson Whisenhunt. He had driven in his six runs, and the fourth inning wasn’t even over.

Adell is now hitting .217/.315/.500 with three home runs, 11 RBI, and a 125 wRC+ as a member of the Guardians in just 13 games. Cleveland was in need of a guy who could mash against lefties before the deadline, and they got one of the best in the game in Adell.

If the team is going to make a late push for postseason baseball, they are going to need more outings like these from their new outfielder. He is no stranger to incredible power outputs, as he homered 37 times for a poor Angels team last season.

Can he replicate the same pace for an offensive-starved Guardians team in what’s left of the 2026 campaign? He certainly seems up for it.