WEST SACRAMENTO -- The ball launched off the bat of Shea Langeliers in the sixth inning Wednesday night finally landed 467 feet later, far enough to become the longest home run in Major League Baseball this season, high enough to easily carry the left-field fence before splashdown on the clubhouse roof and important enough to spark the Athletics to a 6-5 victory over the Rangers.
“It sounded like a cannon,” said outfielder Carlos Cortes, who watched -- and heard -- it from the on-deck circle. “You could tell it was gone.”
Not just gone, as in an ordinary home run, the sixth of the season for Langeliers.
Gone, as in “I don’t know if it’s landed yet,” pitcher J.T. Ginn said after the game.
“In the moment, I knew I got it,” Langeliers said. “I didn’t know how far it was going to go, but I knew it was going over the fence. It’s like the vibration doesn’t come through the bat. I know that’s weird. But that’s getting it on the sweet spot.”
Langeliers, with one swing from the right-handed batter’s box, turned a 2-2 tie after the A’s got another strong showing from Ginn into a 4-2 lead. The slight edge turned into a commanding advantage an inning later on Jacob Wilson’s two-run homer, sending the Athletics to their seventh win in eight games.
Ginn’s first start of the season, on the road against the New York Mets on April 10, was a no-decision, but the encouraging outing -- one hit over four innings with four strikeouts against one walk -- had an immediate payoff leading to his role change. That came with the additional benefit of throwing 68 pitches in the first step toward stretching him out to a rotation arm, 23 more than any of the three previous appearances from the bullpen.
Ginn increased that to 78 pitches in 5 1/3 innings on Wednesday before giving way to Hogan Harris with one out in a 2-2 game and a runner on first. Harris, in the latest of what has become a long line of commendable bullpen moments already in 2026, got Evan Carter to fly out to shallow left field and Jake Burger to strike out, closing the book on Ginn at two runs and two hits and another no-decision. Control was the only problem while issuing three walks in the second inning alone -- although Texas could not turn any into runs -- and four in all.
“When we started the season, J.T. made the team as a reliever,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “Sending [Luis] Morales down was the decision that we made in terms of performance. And moving J.T. into the rotation was a decision on performance and his ability to be a starter. He’s had that role. For us, to see J.T. go out there and hopefully take the reins of this role, continue to have success and not look back and be in the rotation for an extended period of time would be great. That’s our mindset and I know that’s J.T.’s as well.”
Wednesday night was another successful step in that direction.