TORONTO -- The beauty of this Athletics offense lies in its depth. Almost any hitter in the lineup is capable of carrying the team on any given night.
Ideally, several hitters up and down the lineup will be swinging well all at once. Sometimes, however, you need someone to shoulder the load, and that’s what Shea Langeliers almost did on Friday night.
The slugging catcher could not have done much more in a 3-2 walk-off Opening Day loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. Langeliers blasted a pair of solo home runs, including a game-tying 414-foot dinger off Toronto closer Jeff Hoffman in the ninth, before the A’s were walked off on an RBI single from Andrés Giménez in the bottom half.
Langeliers became the fourth player in franchise history with a multihomer game on Opening Day. The three others:
Tyler Soderstrom, 2025
Khris Davis, 2017
Jason Giambi, 2000
Of the previous three, only Davis had three hits on the day.
Aside from Langeliers, though, the rest of the A’s lineup went hitless. The struggles began against Kevin Gausman, who racked up 11 strikeouts, then continued against Toronto’s bullpen, which allowed just four baserunners in the final three innings.