Torii Hunter, an Angels special assistant, has been watching from afar as Mike Trout has made the adjustment to right field and Jo Adell has adjusted to center field.

While it’s too early to draw any conclusions, the former Gold Glove outfielder said both have made progress, but there’s more to do.

“Trout is still learning it,” said Hunter, who lives in the Dallas area and has been at the ballpark this week. “He’s such a talent, such a great athlete in the outfield that it might not seem like it’s missing, but we still know that he still has some growth out there. This is the first time he’s been out there. He’s holding it down.”

Defensive metrics — which are not that relevant this early in the season — have shown that Trout is a negative-2 in terms of Outs Above Average so far in right field.

Adell has been neutral in terms of OAA in center field.

“Adell been holding it down the center as well,” Hunter said. “There’s always something to work on, always something to get better at, but he’s such a great athlete as well. He probably sees the ball better in center than he did in right field. He’s holding it down.”

The Angels signed veteran right-hander Hector Neris to a minor-league deal. Neris, 35, didn’t have a full spring training after signing with the Atlanta Braves after camp opened. He pitched in two games with the Braves, allowing five runs in one inning. The Angels will work him out in Arizona and then send him to Triple-A to pitch. Neris had a 4.10 ERA in 62 major league games last season, with the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros.

— Jeff Fletcher

WILD ONE AT WRIGLEY

Carson Kelly homered twice, Kyle Tucker hit a go-ahead two-run homer in a six-run eighth, and the Chicago Cubs outslugged the visiting Arizona Dia- mondbacks 13-11 on Friday.

Ian Happ hit a grand slam. Seiya Suzuki went deep and the Cubs pulled out a wild win after Arizona scored 10 runs in the eighth.

Chicago was sailing along with a 7-1 lead thanks to Kelly’s two-run drive against Diamondbacks starter Corbin Burnes in the second and Happ’s grand slam off Ryne Nelson in a five-run seventh.

Eugenio Suárez cut it to 7-5 in the eighth with a grand slam against Porter Hodge. Randal Grichuk gave Arizona an 8-7 lead when his chopper scooted under third baseman Gage Workman’s glove for a two-run double. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. added a three-run drive, making it 11-7, but the Cubs answered in a big way in the bottom half.

Bryce Jarvis hit Nico Hoerner leading off and walked Pete Crow-Armstrong before Kelly drove a three-run homer to center. After Happ singled, Tucker and Suzuki hit back-to-back drives against Joe Mantiply to give the Cubs a 13-11 lead.

FIRST FOR ROCKER

Kumar Rocker, a first-round pick in both the 2021 and ’22 drafts, won for the first time in the major leagues Thursday night.

Rocker struck out a career-best eight in a career-best seven innings and the Texas Rangers beat the Angels 5-3 to complete a three-game sweep.

Rocker (1-2) threw a career-high 78 pitches and allowed three runs on five hits without a walk. The 25-year-old right-hander was drafted third overall by Texas in 2022, a year after concerns over a physical led to him going unsigned by the New York Mets as the 10th overall pick. He made his big league debut in September and was 0-2 last season.

Most critical was his strikeout of Mike Trout to end the fifth with a 4-3 lead leaving runners at first and second after the Angels scored twice in the inning.

VISITORS AT HOME

The New York Yankees were winners as visitors in their spring training home for the first time.

New York was back at Steinbrenner Field for a four-game series against the displaced Tampa Bay Rays, who are using their AL East rival’s ballpark for their home games this season.

Ben Rice had his first big league four-hit game and drove in two runs, Oswaldo Cabrera hit a solo homer and New York rallied to beat the Rays 6-3 late Thursday.

“It was a great environment,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Obviously, a ton of Yankees fans. I think the Yankees and Rays have done a great job of getting this ready but I didn’t like my seat. ... All of it was weird.”

The Rays needed a rental stadium after Hurricane Milton tore off the roof panels at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg on Oct 9. The ballpark couldn’t be repaired quickly and the Rays made a deal with the Yankees to use their open-air 11,026-capacity spring training facility.