Inside The Rangers

After Two Bad Calls, Texas Rangers Rookie Wyatt Langford Says No More Before Walk-Off Grand Slam Beats Yankees

Watch Texas Rangers rookie Wyatt Langford become the first rookie in franchise history to hit a walk-off grand slam to beat the New York Yankees.

Stefan Stevenson

Sep 3, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers center fielder Wyatt Langford (36) arrives home to teammates on his grand slam walk-off against the New York Yankees during the ninth inning at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Jim Cowsert-Imagn Images
Sep 3, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers center fielder Wyatt Langford (36) arrives home to teammates on his grand slam walk-off against the New York Yankees during the ninth inning at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Jim Cowsert-Imagn Images / Jim Cowsert-Imagn Images
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ARLINGTON — Rookie Wyatt Langford couldn't help himself.

After falling behind New York Yankees closer Clay Holmes 0-1 and taking another ball called a strike outside of the zone, Langford ripped a 3-2 slider 407 feet into the second deck in the left-field corner to lift the Texas Rangers to a miraculous 7-4 comeback win Tuesday night at Globe Life Field.

Langford, who has been on the rough end of a plenty of controversial strike calls during his rookie season, couldn't help but let off some steam after home plate umpire Mark Wegner called Holmes' 80 mph sweeper a strike despite it being a few inches outside of the zone.

"No!' Langford said before taking a timeout with the Rangers trailing 4-3 with one out and the bases loaded.

"Sometimes I say stuff, not often. The second [strike], I yelled pretty loud, 'no,'" he said. "I yelled. and I called the timeout, to kind of reset."

Langford is the first Rangers rookie to ever win a game with a walk-off grand slam. This was only the eighth time in regular season history that the Rangers have won with a walk-off grand slam, the first since Marlon Byrd on Aug. 4, 2008. Langford is the 24th rookie since 1944 to hit a walk-off grand slam and the first since the Padres' Francisco Mejia in September 2018 (against the Rangers), according to STATS LLC. Langford is the seventh-youngest MLB player to hit a walk-off grand slam and the youngest American League player to ever, according to Baseball Reference, at 22 years, and 293 days old.

"I think everyone likes those moments," said Langford, who has a team-leading three walk-off hits. "I think you like them even more if you're able to come through. So it's really cool to be able to come through." Langford's three walk-off hits are the most by a Rangers player since Josh Hamilton had three in 2011.

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy joked that Langford is able to handle the poor strike calls because he's gotten used to it.

"We had the right guy up there, [making] good swings," Bochy said. "Its's all set up by some good at-at-bats before that. Carson [Kelly] getting it going there. But Wyatt, he has a knack for getting the hit when we need it in his young career. He's got some big ones already. This is part of his growth. You can tell he likes to be up there in this situation."

With the bases loaded, Langford was looking to homer. He was hunting something up in the zone.

"I really was just trying to do less, smaller swings, just to kind of simplify and hope they make a mistake," he said. " Fastball, first pitch. I thought was a little up. I'm not really sure where it actually was. I got the slider that I thought was off [called a strike]. I wasn't sure about if it was or not, but it went down how it should have, I guess, so."

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Stefan Stevenson
STEFAN STEVENSON

Stefan Stevenson worked as a journalist and editor at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for 25 years, covering sports, concerts, and general news. His beats have included the Dallas Cowboys, the Texas Rangers, and Texas Christian University football.

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