Struggling star plays hero for A’s in walk-off win against MLB’s best reliever
It didn’t look promising Wednesday for the Athletics in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who saw his team shut out the A’s the previous two nights, turned to arguably the best reliever in baseball. He brought in flame-throwing left-hander Aroldis Chapman, who was working on Major League Baseball’s third-longest hitless steak since 1901.
“I wasn’t thinking about the streak,” A’s catcher Shea Langeliers said, “but just knowing going into that at-bat, just knowing Chapman’s one of the best to over do it. In a moment like that, you just go back to staying consistent, being the same guy, not trying to do too much and just be in the moment.”
The moment for Langeliers was leading off the final frame with the game tied at 4-4. He fouled off consecutive pitches and fell behind 1-2. In his head, he was thinking fastball — which Chapman can often get to triple digits — and react to something else.
“I just kind of rode out on a splitter and hit it to left center,” Langeliers said.
Langeliers hit a ringing double to snap Chapman’s streak of 17 straight appearances without allowing a hit. It was the A’s slugger’s MLB-leading 32nd extra-base hit since the All-Star break. He moved to third on a sacrifice fly from Brent Rooker, bringing Lawrence Butler to the plate with the infield in.
The numbers indicated it wasn’t a great spot for Butler, either. He came into the day hitting just .183/.220/.356 against left-handed pitching. And Chapman allowed lefties to hit just .111/.130/.330 against him during arguably the best season of his 16-year career.
“We all know the struggles against left-handed pitching this year,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said of Butler. “The numbers are right in front of us.”
No matter. Butler laced a game-winning single to left field, giving him a chance to scream and flex with his teammates as they celebrated near second base. It was the A’s eighth walk-off win at Sutter Health Park.
Butler stroked a two-strike fastball, registering 100 on the radar gun, into left field, giving him a needed jolt of confidence after hitting just .197 since the All-Star break, the sixth-worst mark in the majors among qualified hitters.
“I was (sitting fastball) the whole time,” Butler said. “They’ve been getting fastballs by me a lot this series, lefties have. So he throws 100, so I was just selling out for it.”
Butler’s struggles against left-handers were stark enough that Kotsay nearly considered pinch-hitting right-handed bat Max Schuemann in place of Butler, who started the game on the bench while Boston started lefty Payton Tolle.
“But Law is a guy we need for our future,” Kotsay said, “to be able to handle those situations and those at-bats. And I know we’ve done it in the past, but today was a moment where I wanted him to experience it and go through it, and just couldn’t be happier for Law today.”
The A’s won’t make the playoffs, but they will point their play after the All-Star break as a source of confidence as they continue to build toward 2026. They improved to just 66-80 on the season and will likely be eliminated from playoff contention while coming into Wednesday with a “tragic number,” or elimination number, of five games. They entered the day tied with the New York Yankees for the second-best record in the American League since July 24, two games behind the Red Sox.
Langeliers hit his 30th home run in the first inning, and Nick Kurtz added his 30th in the second. Rooker had a three-hit game, snapping an 0-for-9 streak. The A’s have a day off Thursday before continuing their penultimate homestand of the season, hosting the Cincinnati Reds for a three-game series beginning Friday.
