Wyatt Langford saved the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night.
With the bases loaded and the count full in the ninth inning, the rookie outfielder hit a perfect walk-off grand slam to stun the New York Yankees and give the Rangers a 7-4 victory, which naturally led to a huge celebration at Globe Life Field.
The home run was Langford’s 10th of the season, and his second in as many days after he hit a two-run homer in their 8-4 loss to the Yankees on Monday. Langford entered Tuesday’s game with a .243 batting average. He now has 63 RBI to go with his 11 home runs.
The Yankees jumped to a 4-1 lead Tuesday night, thanks in part to a two-RBI single by Anthony Volpe in the eighth. But Josh Jung — who hit a solo homer in the fourth — hit an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth before Nathaniel Lowe added another run on a sac fly to center field. That set up Langford’s final homer to lead the Rangers to the three-run win.
The Rangers now have a 66-73 record after the win, their sixth in their last eight games. They remain in third place in the AL West and are 8.5 games out of the final wild-card spot.
Aaron Judge equals season-long home run drought
While his home run count is still in the single digits, Yankees star Aaron Judge matched his longest streak without a home run this season on Tuesday night.
Judge has now gone eight games without hitting a home run, a feat he first accomplished in April. That’s a long time for the league’s home run leader, who is trying to reach 60 home runs. Judge had one hit and one run in Tuesday’s loss. He struck out two and also flew out two.
Judge entered Monday night with a .326 batting average and 51 home runs this season. He hit his 50th and 51st home runs against the Colorado Rockies on Aug. 25, officially giving him his third 50-home run season of his career. Judge last had 50 home runs in a season in 2022, when he set the single-season American League home run record with 62. He also won the AL MVP award that summer.
The Yankees fell to 80-59 on the season with the loss, their fifth in their last seven games, and trail the Baltimore Orioles by a half-game in the AL East race.
