Los Angeles Angels outfielder Jo Adell is known for his power bat but put on a show for the ages with his glove in the middle game of the three-game series with the visiting Seattle Mariners.

Adell performed three home run robberies in a single game on Saturday and will look to help the Angels win the series when they close the set against the Mariners on Sunday at Anaheim, Calif.

Zach Neto hit his 10th career leadoff homer for the game’s lone run. The 1-0 victory came one night after neither team scored in the first nine innings before Seattle notched a 3-1 win in 10 innings.

But Saturday night was the “Jo Show,” where a right fielder sometimes chided for his defensive shortcomings put on one of the best outfielder performances of all time.

Adell robbed Cal Raleigh in the first inning, Josh Naylor in the eighth and J.P. Crawford in the ninth with stellar grabs as the Angels collected just their second victory in the past seven games.

“After the first one, the second one was kind of similar, I didn’t know if I was having deja vu,” Adell said. “Sometimes you have to help on the other side of the ball and I’m glad I did my part.”

The third robbery prevented Seattle from tying the game in the ninth. Crawford hit a shot off Jordan Romano that was destined to land in the right-field seats.

Instead, Adell landed in the seats as he spectacularly leaped to catch the ball and fell over the short wall. His glove emerged and he stood up in the stands and displayed he had caught the ball.

“He disappears and he comes up with his glove up,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “… This guy works as hard as anybody I’ve ever been around.”

Mariners manager Dan Wilson played 14 seasons (1992-2005) in the majors and was stunned by what he witnessed.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen three in one ballgame before,” Wilson said. “It’s frustrating when you feel like you put a good swing on a ball like that and you drive it like our guys did and you don’t end up with anything to show for it.”

Adell’s theft on Raleigh kept last season’s American League MVP runner-up homerless through nine games. He hit 60 last season.

“You just tip the cap,” Raleigh said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy rob two homers in a game, much less three. So it’s just one of those things where baseball can amaze you night in and night out. You can see something you’ve never seen before.”

The Mariners will send right-hander Luis Castillo (0-0, 0.00 ERA) to the mound Sunday for his second start of the season.

Castillo, 33, tossed six shutout innings against the visiting New York Yankees last Monday. He gave up three hits and two walks and struck out seven in a game Seattle eventually won 2-1.

Castillo is 5-2 with a 2.84 ERA in 11 career starts against the Angels. He is 1-2 with a 4.97 ERA in five outings at Angel Stadium.

Adell has two homers in seven at-bats against Castillo, while Mike Trout (2-for-14, seven strikeouts) and Logan O’Hoppe (0-for-11) have struggled.

Right-hander Ryan Johnson (0-1, 16.20) will be making his second career start for Los Angeles. He was torched in his first for six runs and seven hits over 3 1/3 innings by the Cubs on Monday. Chicago won 7-2.

Johnson, 23, made one relief appearance against Seattle last season and gave up one run and three hits in one inning.

Seattle third baseman Brendan Donovan (groin) sat out Saturday. He was hurt Friday and an MRI exam came back clean.

–Field Level Media

Suddenly the scoreboard is showing an abundance of favorable results for the Washington Capitals.

A late season surge is also helping their cause and the Capitals attempt to keep gaining ground in a crowded Eastern Conference playoff race Sunday night when they visit the New York Rangers.

Washington (39-29-9, 87 points) trailed the Boston Bruins by six points for the final wild-card spot following a 3-1 loss in Boston on March 7. Since then, the Capitals are 8-3-2 in their past 13 games and are now one point behind the Ottawa Senators for the last wild-card spot with five games left.

The Philadelphia Flyers and Detroit Red Wings also have 88 points but have a game in hand on Washington. Columbus also has 88 points and has played the same number of games as the Capitals.

The Capitals inched closer after earning a 6-2 victory over the visiting Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. They are taking the ice in New York after Detroit hosts the Minnesota Wild and Philadelphia hosts the Bruins in Sunday afternoon games.

Washington also will take the ice in New York two hours after Ottawa starts its home game with the Carolina Hurricanes.

“We can only control what we do out there for 60 minutes and we’re just trying to do everything we can to stay alive and get ourselves in,” Washington forward Ryan Leonard said.

On Saturday, the Capitals scored three goals in the opening period and Jakob Chychrun, Aliaksei Protas and Connor McMichael each finished with a goal and an assist.

The Rangers lost two of three meetings with the Capitals earlier this season and are playing better of late. Following a six-game losing streak (0-5-1), New York is 4-1-0 in the first five contests of a seven-game homestand.

New York has scored 19 goals over its last five games and aided the Capitals’ cause by cruising to a 4-1 win over Detroit on Saturday night.

Rookie Gabe Perreault recorded his first career hat trick while first-year forward Jaroslav Chmelar also scored. The Rangers played five rookies Saturday and since March 2, New York’s first-year players have 17 goals and 38 points.

“Means a lot,” said Perreault, who has 10 goals in 44 games this season after appearing in five games last season. “Teammates made some nice plays, so had a couple of easy ones tonight. But it definitely feels good to get the hat trick, but most importantly, get the win.”

Perreault became just the fourth Rangers rookie in the past 30 years to score a hat trick, joining Chris Kreider (2013), Derek Stepan (2010) and Jan Hlavac (2000).

“At the start, I was kind of fighting it the first couple of shifts, so I didn’t necessarily think I was going to finish like that, but once we started generating chances and I got that first one and that second, you’re obviously thinking about the third one,” Perreault said. “Lucky enough, I was able to get out there and get the third one.”

–Field Level Media

The first Sunday night game at Comerica Park in Detroit this season was supposed to be a special event. Then came the bad news on Saturday afternoon.

Justin Verlander was scheduled to make his home first start in a Detroit Tigers uniform since Aug. 20, 2017, against the St. Louis Cardinals. However, the 43-year-old right-hander was placed on the 15-day injured list due to left hip inflammation.

Verlander said the injury wasn’t serious but the organization didn’t want to take any chances this early in the season.

“It’s frustrating for me, obviously,” he said. “I also know a lot of fans were excited about [Sunday] night.”

Verlander won the first of his three Cy Young Awards in 2011 with the Tigers. He pitched in Detroit from 2005-17 and later played for the Houston Astros, New York Mets and San Francisco Giants before returning to Detroit as a free agent. Of his 266 career wins, 183 came as a member of the Tigers.

Right-hander Keider Montero was recalled from Triple-A Toledo and is expected to take the mound in Verlander’s place during the finale of a three-game series.

The team had marketed the nationally televised event as Verlander’s long-awaited return, but the fans and TV audience will have to settle for Montero’s 29th start in a Tigers uniform.

Montero was 5-3 with a 4.37 ERA in 20 appearances with Detroit last season, including 12 starts. He gave up five runs in 5 2/3 innings of relief in his lone career outing against the Cardinals last May but didn’t figure into the decision in the 11-4 loss.

“We didn’t anticipate needing rotation help this week,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “But it came up and we have someone who arguably could have been on the team from the get-go. And now he gets an opportunity to help us. We’re very lucky to have someone of his caliber, who’s pitched in some of the biggest moments in the last couple of years to come up and be ready to go.”

The Tigers will be looking for a sweep. Detroit’s bats heated up on Saturday, as it clobbered four home runs in an 11-6, rain-delayed victory.

Kerry Carpenter, Zach McKinstry, Gleyber Torres and Matt Vierling each supplied their first home runs of the season. The Tigers had just two home runs, both by catcher Dillon Dingler, in their first seven games.

Montero will be opposed by right-hander Kyle Leahy (0-1, 7.20 ERA). In his first start this season, Leahy gave up four runs and eight hits in five innings in a 4-2 to the New York Mets on Monday.

“I made a lot of good pitches with runners on, but then I made some not-great pitches to let those runners get on,” Leahy said. “Definitely, a lot to learn from this one and be better as it goes.”

Leahy’s fastball velocity went down from the first inning, when he averaged 95.8 mph. It was closer to 93 mph the rest of the way. Leahy is still getting used to starting after being used as a reliever his first three seasons.

“That’s just part of the transition for my body getting used to this again,” Leahy said. “I felt really good early, and I thought I pitched with not my best stuff (Monday) and still competed as hard as I could. That’s just a build-up thing, and hopefully I’ll be better off as the year goes.”

Leahy has made two relief appearances against Detroit in his career and was tagged with a loss both times. His ERA in those games is 10.13 after allowing three runs on four hits in 2 2/3 innings.

-Field Level Media