BALTIMORE — Needing a home run for the cycle in the eighth inning, Wyatt Langford was focused on exactly that.
Not that it changed his approach much.
“I was obviously feeling really good at that point,” Langford said. “Just kind of one of those things that happens.”
The Texas rookie completed the cycle with a three-run shot down the left-field line Sunday night, part of an 11-2 win by the Rangers against the Baltimore Orioles. It was the first cycle in the major leagues in 2024. By this time last season, there had been four.
It was also the first four-hit game for the 22-year-old Langford, who was drafted last year by the Rangers with the No. 4 overall pick and made a swift rise to the majors to make Texas’ opening-day roster this season.
“He’s just an exciting player,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “He’s a ballplayer, and you love how aggressive he is. No fear on the bases. Out of the box, he’s looking to get the double or triple.”
Langford tripled in the fourth, and his RBI double in the fifth was a grounder into right-center field that he stretched into a two-base hit.
“How I was raised, I guess,” Langford said when asked about running so hard. “My dad would beat the crap out of me if I didn’t. I’ll credit him for that.”
His speed having already made an impact, Langford needed more power after his sixth-inning single left him a homer shy of the cycle when he came up in the eighth.
“I was trying to hit a home run,” Langford said. “It kind of speaks for itself.”
Langford became the 11th Rangers player to hit for the cycle, the first since Carlos Gomez in April 2017 against the Angels. The only other Texas rookie to do it was Oddibe McDowell in 1985. He recorded his in his 59th career game; Langford had his in his 60th career game.
Langford is the 15th rookie to hit for the cycle since Major League Baseball established an official definition of rookie status in 1958.
And he’s the first player to hit for the cycle in a game aired on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
