ARLINGTON, Texas – Wyatt Langford hit a game-winning grand slam off All-Star closer Clay Holmes on Tuesday night to give the Texas Rangers a 7-4 victory over the New York Yankees and lose the lead in the American League East.
Langford hit the first walk-off slam by a Rangers rookie to give Holmes (2-5) his 11th save in 40 chances, a major league record, as Texas overcame a 4-1 deficit in the eighth inning.
“I think everybody likes those moments,” said Langford, the first Rangers player with three walk-off hits in a season since Josh Hamilton in 2011. “I think you like them even more when you can come out on top. So it’s really cool to be able to come out on top.”
According to research by ESPN Stats & Information, Langford, a bright spot in a difficult season for Texas, is only the second player in major league history to hit a cycle, hit an inside-the-park home run and hit a walk-off grand slam in the same season, after Jackie Robinson did the same in 1948.
Carson Kelly had a one-out single in the ninth inning, and Josh Smith and Marcus Semien followed with walks as Holmes threw only 12 of 25 pitches for strikes.
“There were moments where I honestly thought I had been beaten,” Holmes said. “Tonight was one of those moments where I didn’t throw very well, not well at all and with the way I threw, I didn’t deserve to come out on top.”
Langford hit his 10th home run of the season with a full-count slider, hitting it 425 feet into left field.
“He showed up at key moments and helped us,” Kelly said. “It was definitely great to see.”
New York (80-59) fell a half-game behind Baltimore (81-59) and now holds first place in the division and the best record in the American League. The Yankees have lost five of their last seven games.
When Yankees manager Aaron Boone was asked if he needed to consider changing the closer, he said he would not answer that question just moments after the game, “when we are still all worked up and emotional.”
“The stuff is there, I feel like he throws the ball well. Obviously tonight it was a struggle,” Boone said. “Getting the lead man there and then not being able to lure the right-hander away there to start the rally and then losing the zone a little bit and not being able to finish some 3-2 counts. … He’s really important to us down there. We need his excellence to be part of the group down there. So, you know, that’s a tough one.”
It was the Rangers’ third consecutive walk-off home win and their ninth overall, an MLB high. They won their final at-bats on Saturday and Sunday against Oakland before losing the series opener to New York.
Rookie left-hander Walter Pennington (1-0), the sixth pitcher from Texas, earned his first major league win after receiving one out – a flyout to right by MLB home run leader Aaron Judge.
Carlos Rodon had a season-high 11 strikeouts and allowed just one hit in six innings. The only hit the New York left-hander allowed was Josh Jung’s home run at the top of the fourth inning.
New York took the lead after Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Anthony Volpe opened the seventh with back-to-back singles. José Leclerc (5-5) failed to advance a base, then Jose Trevino had an RBI groundout and Alex Verdugo hit a single over a drawn-in infield for a 2-1 lead.
Volpe hit a two-run single with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth inning, and the speedy Chisolm probably would have scored from first base too had he not stopped despite third-base coach Luis Rojas waving him around. Chisolm, who had his fourth consecutive multi-hit game, seemed to admit he hadn’t noticed the sign as he pointed to his eyes.
The Rangers scored twice in the eighth inning when Jung hit an RBI single and Nathaniel Lowe hit a sacrifice fly.
Texas starter Andrew Heaney had eight strikeouts with one walk and didn’t allow a run until the sixth inning. The 13-loss left-hander has allowed just one run in 15 innings (0.60 ERA) in his last three starts and has not made a decision in any of them.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
