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Oakland A’s Shea Langliers hits walk-off homer to stun Mariners

OAKLAND — The ball had the legs. The ball had the sound. The only question was whether it was fair.

Third base umpire Todd Tichenor dropped down to a knee, his eyes lasered on left field. Shea Langeliers’ towering blast, one measured at 418 feet, landed in the second deck. Tichenor paused for a beat. He contemplated. The stadium awaited his judgment. He pointed to the right.

Fair, it was.

As the A’s time in Oakland continues to slip away, Langeliers orchestrated one of the green and gold’s final memorable moments at the Oakland Coliseum: a walk-off, solo home run in the ninth to deliver a 5-4 win over the Mariners. Soon, moments like this will be no more, at least at this venue. The joy of summer will give way to the reality of fall. But for a brief sliver of time on Monday evening, as Langeliers was doused with yellow Gatorade, those concerns faded into the background.

All the A’s could bask in the moment, and bask in it fully.

“I looked at our third base coach Eric Martins’ reaction and he had turned (around),” said manager Mark Kotsay. “That was the sign to me that it was going to stay fair. Ultimately, I was thinking through preparation for the 10th inning, then I looked up. I heard the sound and I was like, ‘Ooh, where’d it go?’ I said please stay fair. Everything worked out.”

“The way he hit it, I had no doubt it was going to be fair,” said Butler, who had a double and a run scored. “I only doubted it towards the end. I kind of was like, ‘Oh, it’s hooking.’ But I didn’t think it was going to go foul at all. I thought it was fair the whole way.”

Oakland Athletics' Shea Langeliers (23) celebrates with teammates, including Lawrence Butler, (4) right, and Zack Gelof, (20) left, after hitting a solo walk-off home run off Seattle Mariners' pitcher Austin Voth (30) in the ninth inning of their MLB game at the Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. The A's defeated the Mariners 5-4. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
Oakland Athletics’ Shea Langeliers (23) celebrates with teammates, including Lawrence Butler, (4) right, and Zack Gelof, (20) left, after hitting a solo walk-off home run off Seattle Mariners’ pitcher Austin Voth (30) in the ninth inning of their MLB game at the Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. The A’s defeated the Mariners 5-4. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

Langeliers’ joy-inducing swing underscores the bitter reality. The A’s only 12 more home games remaining at the Oakland Coliseum — and 24 games, period — before departing for Sacramento. There is a legitimate chance that Langeliers’ homer might end up being the final walk-off that this stadium hosts.

Players all across the sport talk of their desire to win every single day, a line that has transcended the realm of cliché. But for those donning the green and gold, there is an additional motivating force — a force that the league’s other 29 teams do not possess.

“Every guy in here will tell you they feel it,” Langeliers said. “We want to win for our fans every single day. It’s like that all season, but especially these last couple homestands. It’s a little more meaningful, a little more special. We’re definitely pushing our hardest to win every single game.”

Given how they’ve played in recent months, the A’s appear plenty capable of stacking up more victories than defeats. With a winning record in August, Oakland secured back-to-back winning months for the first time since May and June 2021.

The postseason is not in the cards for this iteration of the A’s, though a playoff push in Sacramento doesn’t seem far fetched. The goal of this current group, then, isn’t just to win and improve, but to manufacture as many final memories as possible at this concrete cathedral before bidding farewell.

“This stadium has so much history,” Butler said. “So many legends (and) Hall of Famers came through here. It’s only right we end it on a good note (with) how they created the environment, the fan base. We’re just trying to pay our dues and give back to them with some wins.”

Oakland Athletics' Shea Langeliers (23) hits a three-run home run off Seattle Mariners pitcher Logan Gilbert (36) in the third inning of their MLB game at the Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
Oakland Athletics’ Shea Langeliers (23) hits a three-run home run off Seattle Mariners pitcher Logan Gilbert (36) in the third inning of their MLB game at the Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

With his pair of Labor Day home runs, Langeliers is now one of three catchers in franchise history to hit at least 25 home runs in a single season, the other two being Gene Tenace (1974-75) and Terry Steinbach (1996).

Langeliers also has an outside chance at joining Steinbach as the only other backstop in franchise history with a 30-homer season. To do so, Langeliers would need to hit five more home runs over Oakland’s 24 remaining games (the most homers Langeliers has hit in a single month is six).

“I would say for sure: it’s definitely a goal,” Langeliers said of hitting 30 homers. “At the end of the day, we have a month left in the season and we’re just trying to finish strong and win as many games as we can. When I’m not focused on myself and I’m focused on the team, we play better baseball. That’s the goal this last month.”

The last month of the season. The last month in Oakland.

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Oakland Athletics’ Shea Langeliers (23) is doused with Gatorade by teammates Max Schuemann (12) and Lawrence Butler (4) after hitting a solo walk-off home run off Seattle Mariners’ pitcher Austin Voth (30) in the ninth inning of their MLB game at the Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. The A’s defeated the Mariners 5-4. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

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