ARLINGTON, Texas — Wyatt Langford lined a shot off the wall in left field to bring home Alejandro Osuna in the ninth inning, lifting Texas to a 7-6 victory over the Angels after the Rangers blew a five-run lead Thursday night.
Langford struck out three of his first four times up as the designated hitter after getting activated from the 10-day injured list in his return from a left hamstring strain.
Osuna led off the ninth with a single and went to second on pinch-hitter Nicky Lopez’s sacrifice bunt. Langford lined a 1-and-1 fastball from former Texas closer Kirby Yates (0-4) over Jose Siri’s head for the winning single.
Jo Adell had a tying, pinch-hit single to cap a five-run seventh a night after homering twice in the Angels’ 13-1 victory.
Cole Winn (4-2) got Adell on a sharp liner to center field to end the ninth with the potential go-ahead run at third after replacing All-Star closer Jacob Latz, who went 1⅔ innings in his first outing in nine days.
Nathan Eovaldi struck out a season-high 10 for Texas but failed to get his 10th win for the fifth consecutive start. He exited with no outs in the seventh after Dezner Guzman reached on catcher’s interference, Logan O’Hoppe walked and Wade Meckler’s single scored Guzman.
Peyton Gray replaced Eovaldi and gave up a two-run single to Nolan Schanuel, who had four hits, and an RBI single to Jorge Soler.
Brandon Nimmo, Ezequiel Duran and Justin Foscue homered for Texas in the first four innings against Reid Detmers. The left-hander hadn’t given up more than one long ball in any of his first 18 starts.
Up next: Neither team announced the rotation for its final series before the All-Star break. Indications are the Angels will go with RHP Grayson Rodriguez (2-2, 8.06 ERA) on Friday at Minnesota. He has been on the injured list since mid-June because of lower back tightness. Texas is home against Houston.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Jordan Woolery nearly saved UCLA’s season Sunday night at the Women’s College World Series. She lined a single up the middle in the ninth inning off former teammate Kaitlyn Terry to score Rylee Slimp from second base and pull the Bruins within a run of Texas Tech.
But Red Raiders ace NiJaree Canady replaced Terry in the circle and retired the final two batters, stranding Megan Grant at second in UCLA’s 8-7 season-ending loss.
Woolery, the nation’s RBIs leader, homered twice and drove in five runs for UCLA (53-10), which got nine innings and 181 pitches from workhorse Taylor Tinsley.
The Bruins struggled to gain traction against Terry, who joined Texas Tech following last season’s exit from the WCWS. Terry replaced Canady in the third inning and retired 10 of the first 11 batters she faced.
But in the seventh, UCLA scored three runs to force extra innings. Pinch-hitter Ramsey Suarez ignited the rally with a 270-foot home run to left field off Terry. Facing Canady, pinch-hitter Jazmine Leyva singled down the right-field line. Two batters later, Woolery blasted a 267-foot homer over the center-field wall to tie the score.
Despite the late heroics, it wasn’t enough to keep UCLA’s season alive. Texas Tech (59-8) will play Alabama (56-7) Monday at 4 p.m. PT.
As left-hander Alex Vesia emerged from the Dodgers bullpen, heard the electric guitar riff of Seether’s “Gasoline,” and felt his adrenaline spike with the roar of the crowd, he knew 27 of those cheering fans had helped him and wife Kayla through a devastating loss just months prior.
He and Kayla had chosen the Dodgers’ game against the Mets on Tuesday, Healthcare appreciation night at Dodger Stadium, to celebrate the hands-on staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center who had cared for them last October, through the death of their newborn daughter Sterling Sol.
He’d spotted their suite by shirts Kayla had customized for the group, bearing the initials SV with a heart, and signed by Alex.
“Today was the first time I’ve seen pretty much all of them since everything,” Alex Vesia said after earning the save in the Dodgers’ 2-1 win Tuesday. “So it was very special, very emotional. … I couldn’t have written it any better.”
Vesia authored the ending to what manager Dave Roberts called an “old school” pitcher’s duel. Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Mets starter each yielded only one run apiece, both in the first inning.
Yamamoto retired 20 straight after surrendering a leadoff home run to Francisco Lindor. And he came back out in the eighth, with right-hander Blake Treinen and Vesia preparing for the call.
When Yamamoto allowed back-to-back two-out singles, just his third and fourth hits allowed, Roberts brought in Treinen to face Luis Robert Jr. Treinen struck out Robert on a sweeper that caught the bottom of the strike zone and withstood an ABS challenge.
“Not having [closer Edwin Díaz] available, I felt very confident to use Blake to get out of that inning, to get Robert,” Roberts said, “and to have Vesia take on some righties in a close situation.”
Díaz hadn’t pitched since last Friday, when he didn’t feel quite right and his velocity dropped during a blown save. Though he insisted over the weekend that he felt good physically, the Dodgers proceeded with caution.
Because of the time off, Roberts said, the training and coaching staff wanted Díaz to throw a bullpen Tuesday before returning to game action. As long as he responds well, Roberts said, Díaz will be “ready to go” Wednesday in the series finale.
Kyle Tucker singles in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning Tuesday.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
On Tuesday, a clutch swing from Kyle Tucker in the bottom of the eighth created a save situation with Díaz down.
With runners on first and second, Tucker fell behind in the count against Mets left-handed reliever Brooks Raley. Then, shaking off his slow offensive start to the season, Tucker sent a 1-and-2 cutter into shallow left field.
“He’s going through it right now,” Roberts said. “But for him to stick his nose in there against Raley and find a way … to just flare a ball to get a game-winning hit, he helped us win a baseball game.”
Then it was Vesia’s time.
The heart of the order was coming up for the Mets: Jorge Polanco, Bo Bichette and Francisco Alvarez.
“Doc trusting me to get those three hitters out, those are no-joke hitters right there,” Vesia said. “So I definitely knew I needed to be on my game.”
A top-rail fastball got him a called first strike against Polanco. Then Vesia, who mostly throws fastballs and sliders, got Polanco to whiff on an outside changeup.
“I think even Will [Smith] and I surprised each other with the changeup that I threw,” Vesia said.
He went above the zone with a fastball, and Polanco chased it to complete a three-pitch strikeout.
Vesia then only needed four pitches to strike out Bichette on a slider in the dirt. Three straight sliders to Alvarez finished the job.
Vesia hopped and fist-pumped as the Dodgers (13-4) formed their handshake line. He met SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson outside of the dugout for the on-field interview and choked back tears after waving to the Cedars-Sinai suite.
“That’s what I do it for, man,” he said later in the clubhouse. “I wear my heart on my sleeve when I’m out there. So I was pretty fired up to be put in that spot.”
