Langford delivers 1st career walk-off: 'Glad to be in that spot'

ARLINGTON -- Wyatt Langford wasn’t really ready for his plate appearance in the 10 inning of Monday night’s matchup with the White Sox.

The Rangers’ rookie outfielder was just chilling in the dugout, two away from coming to the plate, when the White Sox decided to intentionally walk both Corey Seager and Josh Smith to load the bases to get what they perceived as a favorable matchup.

So the 22-year-old walked to the plate and called a quick timeout. Then he locked in, delivering his first career walk-off to give the Rangers a thrilling 4-3 win over the White Sox in 10 innings at Globe Life Field.

“That was really good, I was glad I got to be in that spot,” Langford said. “I don't think it's an insult [intentionally walking Seager and Smith to get to him]. But I do appreciate it. I got it pretty good. I knew off the bat that it wasn't gonna be caught. It’s pretty cool honestly.”

Langford's walk-off was the first by a Rangers rookie since outfielder Mark Mathias' home run on Sept. 13, 2022, vs. the A's. But somehow, that almost didn’t feel like the biggest hit for Langford in the win.

With the Rangers down one run in the bottom of the ninth inning, Langford delivered a one-out hustle double as the tying run. He stole third base before ultimately scoring on a Jonah Heim RBI single with Texas down to its last strike.

“I think playing at Florida, playing the College World Series, the big games there, he has experience he can draw from [in big situations],” said manager Bruce Bochy. “He's got so much confidence. He wants to be the guy up there. What I love is the double. He didn't hesitate. He was going to get to second base and give us a chance to tie that ballgame. It was really just as big at that point.”

Not much has gone well for Texas this season. But the only thing that undoubtedly has gone right is the consistency of Kirby Yates at the back of the bullpen.

Every game feels like a must-win for the Rangers as the July 30 Trade Deadline looms, and the club almost desperately needs to win a series against the American League’s worst team in the White Sox this week.

For the first time all season long, Yates faltered. The Rangers’ closer gave up a solo homer to White Sox infielder Paul DeJong in the ninth inning of a tie game. It was the first home run Yates had surrendered all season.

“Kirby, you know he's been perfect and he made a mistake there,” Bochy said.

But if Yates was going to falter for the first time this year, it’s only right that the Rangers backed him up. Heim set Langford up perfectly as the two practically called Texas to a victory.

“I feel like our pitching staff has held it down for us all year,” Heim said. “It's our job as an offense to turn around and give them some help. … It's no secret that I've been kind of struggling all year. Being able to come through for the team is important to me. It didn't have to be a homer, it just had to be a single and pass the baton to the next guy. When I can play with some emotions, we’re in a good spot.”

It was a long game for Bochy to watch from his office. Bochy was ejected by home plate umpire Edwin Moscoso in the top of the fifth inning. It was Bochy's fourth of the season and 85th of his career, putting him in sole possession of seventh place on the all-time managerial ejection leaderboard.

Langford joked that he felt like Bochy got himself ejected on purpose to motivate his team. Whether he did it intentionally or not, it worked out in the end.

“I don't know if it did, but I was frustrated,” Bochy said “But they fought hard. That’s a tough blow in the ninth inning to go down and around. They fought back and that's what's important.”