Shea Langeliers on Tuesday hit three home runs, including a two-run drive in the ninth inning that lifted the Oakland Athletics over the Texas Rangers 4-3.
Langeliers, a 26-year-old who entered with 29 career major league homers, hit solo drives in the second off Nathan Eovaldi and in the seventh against David Robertson.
“It feels good to get something like that when you’re seeing the ball that good,” said Langeliers, who attended nearby Keller High School and played about 160km south of Globe Life Field at Baylor.
Photo: AFP
On the winning homer, he said he was “just trying to be aggressive in the middle of the plate.”
The A’s have won three of their past four games, improving to 4-7.
“We’re kind of playing relaxed and free right now, just going out there and giving it all we’ve got and seeing what happens,” Langeliers said.
Last season, Oakland’s fourth win had the A’s at 4-16 on April 21 en route to a franchise-worst 50-112 record.
“We’ve played better baseball since the start of the season, when we kind of got off to an unnerving start,” Oakland manager Mark Kotsay said.
World Series champions the Rangers (6-5) are on their first losing streak of the season, at three games.
“We ran into a guy that just had a huge night,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said.
Texas led 3-2 in the ninth inning when Seth Brown walked with one out off Jose Leclerc (0-2) and Langeliers sent a first-pitch fastball to left-center for his fourth home run this season.
It was the first three-homer game for Langeliers, who hit a pair on Oct. 2, 2022, at Seattle and on Aug. 23 last year at the Chicago White Sox. The only other starting A’s catcher to hit three homers in a game was Mickey Cochrane in 1925.
Langeliers tied the score 1-1 when he homered on a splitter from Eovaldi and 2-2 when he connected on a knuckle-split from Robertson, who was pitching on his 39th birthday.
Michael Kelly (1-0) threw a perfect eighth inning and Mason Miller pitched a perfect 1-2-3 ninth for Oakland’s first save this season.
Texas went ahead when Marcus Semien doubled on the first pitch from Alex Wood and Josh Smith hit an RBI single on Wood’s sixth.
Jonah Heim homered in the second inning and Evan Carter in the seventh against Mitch Spence.
Wood left with a calf cramp following four innings.
Elsewhere, the Cubs crushed the Padres 5-1, the White Sox defeated the Guardians 7-5, the Tigers tamed the Pirates 5-3, the Orioles routed the Red Sox 7-1, the Yankees mastered the Marlins 3-2, the Cardinals beat the Phillies 3-0 and the Dodgers downed the Twins 6-3.
The Brewers bested the Reds 9-5, the Blue Jays beat the Mariners 5-3, the Braves pipped the Mets 6-5, the Diamondbacks overcame the Rockies 3-2, the Rays stung the Angels 6-4, the Nationals downed the Giants 5-3 and the Royals edged the Astros 4-3 in 10 innings.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Tallon Griekspoor on Friday stunned top seed Alexander Zverev 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4) in the second round at Indian Wells, avenging a devastating loss to the German at Roland Garros last year. Zverev, the world No. 2 who is heading the field of the prestigious ATP Masters event with No. 1 Jannik Sinner serving a three-month drugs ban, is the first Indian Wells men’s top seed to lose his opening match since Andy Murray in 2017. It was a cherished win for Griekspoor, who had lost five straight matches — including four last year — to the German. That included a five-setter
Donovan Mitchell on Wednesday scored 26 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers punched their ticket to the NBA playoffs with a hard-fought 112-107 victory over the Miami Heat. A seesaw battle in Cleveland saw the Heat threaten to end the Cavs’ 11-game unbeaten streak after opening up a seven-point lead late in the fourth quarter, but the Cavs clawed back the deficit in the closing minutes to seal their 12th straight victory and a place in the post-season. The Cavaliers improved to 52-10, maintaining their stranglehold on the Eastern Conference with 20 games of the regular season remaining. Mitchell was one of six Cleveland
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic on Saturday tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters, falling in his first match to lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp as two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced. “No excuses for a poor performance,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic said after 37 unforced errors in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court,” he said. “But congratulations to my opponent — just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me.” Djokovic is just the latest in Van de Zandschulp’s string of superstar victims. He
Manchester United on Thursday settled for a 1-1 draw with Real Sociedad in the first leg of their Europa League round-of-16 tie. United led on Joshua Zirkzee’s goal in the 58th minute, but the hosts equalized 12 minutes later after Bruno Fernandes’ hand ball and Mikel Oyarzabal sent Andre Onana the wrong way from the penalty spot. The Europa League could be a way for United to finish the season with a trophy after crashing out of the FA Cup on Sunday. A spot in the quarter-finals is to be on the line at Old Trafford in the second leg on Thursday next
RSS