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Rangers rookie Wyatt Langford hits walk-off grand slam to beat Aaron Judge, Yankees

Wyatt Langford lifted the Rangers to a 7-4 win with his grand slam Tuesday at Globe Life Field

ryan young
Staff writer
·2 min read

Wyatt Langford saved the Texas Rangers on Tuesday.

With the bases loaded and a full count in the bottom of the ninth inning, the rookie outfielder drilled a ball into the second deck of left field for a walk-off grand slam to stun the New York Yankees and give the Rangers a 7-4 win. Naturally, that sparked a celebration at Globe Life Field.

The home run, hit off closer Clay Holmes, was Langford’s 10th of the season and his second in as many days after he hit a two-run shot in Texas' 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 up 4-1 on Tuesday, thanks in part to a two-RBI single from Anthony Volpe in the eighth. But Josh Jung — who hit a solo home run in the fourth — hit an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth before Nathaniel Lowe added another run when he hit a sac fly to center field. That set up Langford’s slam to lift the Rangers to the three-run win.

The Rangers hold a 66-73 record after the win, their sixth in their past eight games. They still sit third in the AL West and are 8.5 games out of the final wild-card spot.

While it's still in single digits, Yankees star Aaron Judge matched his longest stretch without a home run this season on Tuesday.

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 attempting to rack up another 60-home run season. Judge had one hit and scored a run in the loss Tuesday. He struck out twice and flied out twice.

Judge entered Monday 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, which gave him the 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 won the AL MVP award that year.

The Yankees dropped to 80-59 on the season with the loss, their fifth in their past seven games. They trail the Baltimore Orioles by half a game in the AL East.