Langeliers, A's Wallop Nationals

Four pitches into Tuesday's game in Washington, the Athletics held a 1-0 lead thanks to leadoff hitter--Shea Langeliers? It was the first time the A's backstop had hit leadoff in the big leagues, but judging from the offensive display he put on against the Nationals, it won't be his last.

With left-hander Mackenzie Gore on the mound, the A's were sitting Lawrence Butler, which is common. Though, without Butler in the lineup, the A's have been circulating leadoff bats, and on Tuesday is was Shea's turn. He took Gore deep to begin the game, and that was followed by a Nick Kurtz single, a Brent Rooker double, and a JJ Bleday RBI single to put the A's up 3-0.

Two batters later, Darell Hernaiz joined the fun, blasting his second home run of the season since his call-up on July 29. The A's led 5-0 after one.

Max Schuemann was the only A's player to not record a hit last night, and everyone besides rookie Colby Thomas collected at least a pair of hits. The A's ended up with 24 hits overall.

But it was Shea Langeliers' performance that stole the show. He went 5-for-6 with three home runs, giving him 22 on the season, along with a double, three RBI and four runs scored. He came up to bat in the top of the eighth with a chance for his fourth home run, and instead he pulled a double down the line that got a rally going in the four-run eighth. He was left in the on-deck circle in the top of the ninth.

The A's ended up winning this one easily, 16-7, though the Nationals put up four runs on newcomer Eduarniel Nuñez in the bottom of the ninth to make it look closer.

But back to the fun stuff. Shea Langeliers is playing out of his mind of late. Over his last seven games, he's hitting .467 with a .484 OBP and five home runs. As a catcher, he has as many stolen bases as strikeouts in that span (1). His SLG also sits at 1.100 in the past seven.

Over his past 15, he's hitting .417 with a 446 OBP and a .900 SLG, bashing eight homers with 12 RBI. Over the last 30 games, he's hitting .336 with a .358 OBP and 12 home runs. No matter which way you slice it, he's been on a roll since he returned from the IL at the beginning of July.

While he hasn't been quite as good as Nick Kurtz since July 1 (Kurtz has a 265 wRC+ which is insane), Langeliers has a 169 (100 is league average), which ranks him No. 14 in baseball over that span. Last year it was Butler and Brent Rooker that carried the club in the second half, serving as two of the ten best hitters in all of baseball. This year it may be Kurtz and Langeliers.

We should also draw some attention to JJ Bleday's performance the past two games while facing left-handed starters. In those two games, he's a combined 8-for-10 with two homers and seven RBI (six on Tuesday) with a pair of doubles and five runs scored.

His splits have been reversed this season, with the outfielder batting .370 with a .408 OBP against left-handers and just .178 with a .282 OBP against righties.

After going 2-11 over the first half of the schedule, Luis Severino has now won all four of his starts out of the break, improving to 6-11 on the year. He tossed a quality start, going six innings and giving up three runs, but last night he didn't have to be perfect. He just needed to provide some innings, which he did.

The win was the A's 50th of the season, bringing their record to 50-65. Wednesday night it will be Jeffrey Springs (10-7, 4.00 ERA) against Cade Cavalli, who will be making his long-awaited return to a big-league mound after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2023. He's made 15 starts in Triple-A and is 3-7 with a 6.09 ERA.