Wyatt Langford saved the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night.
With the bases loaded and the count complete in the bottom of the ninth inning, the rookie outfielder hit a ball into the second deck in left field for a grand slam that stunned the New York Yankees and gave the Rangers a 7-4 victory. Naturally, that sparked a celebration at Globe Life Field.
The homer, off closer Clay Holmes, was Langford’s 10th of the season and second in two days after he hit a two-run shot in Texas’ 8-4 loss to the Yankees on Monday. Langford entered Tuesday’s game batting .243. He now has 63 RBIs to go with his 11 homers.
The Yankees took a 4-1 lead Tuesday night, thanks in part to Anthony Volpe’s two-run single in the eighth. But Josh Jung, who hit a solo homer in the fourth inning, hit an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth before Nathaniel Lowe added another run after hitting a sacrifice fly to center field. That set up Langford’s final homer to lift the Rangers to a three-run victory.
The Rangers now have a 66-73 record after the win, which was their sixth in their last eight games. They are still third in the AL West and are 8.5 games out of the final wild-card spot.
Aaron Judge equals season-long home run drought
Though still in single digits, Yankees star Aaron Judge matched his longest streak without a home run this season on Tuesday night.
Judge has gone eight games without hitting a home run, something he did in April and July. That’s a long time for MLB’s home run leader, who is trying to rack up another 60-homer season. Judge had one hit and scored one run in Tuesday’s loss. He struck out twice and popped out twice.
Judge entered Monday night’s game with a .326 batting average and 51 home runs this season. He hit his 50th and 51st homers against the Colorado Rockies on Aug. 25, giving him his third career 50-homer season. The last time Judge had 50 homers in a season was in 2022, when he set the American League single-season home run record with 62. He won the American League Most Valuable Player Award that summer.
The Yankees fell to 80-59 on the season with the loss, which was their fifth in their last seven games. They are a half-game behind the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East race.
