Big-swing Bangeliers strikes again with grand slam off reigning Cy Young

WEST SACRAMENTO – Shea Langeliers cracked a smile toward Tarik Skubal in the third inning after a hard line drive he pulled foul onto the left-field concourse mistakenly triggered the light show at Sutter Health Park, which is reserved for home run celebrations.

Little did either know that the lighthearted moment was just a precursor to what would come later.

With the Athletics mounting a late comeback in the seventh against Skubal, Langeliers stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and crushed a majestic 450-foot grand slam off the All-Star left-hander, setting off the flashing lights again and flipping a one-run deficit into a three-run lead in what ended up an 8-3 victory over the Tigers on Monday.

The range of emotions was evident. The entire A’s dugout erupted as soon as Langeliers connected for a no-doubter on a 2-1 sinker left near the center of the zone at 98.5 mph. On the mound, Skubal, who had stymied the A’s through the first six innings with 10 strikeouts, clearly yelled out "No!" in frustration as soon as the ball left the bat.

It was the longest grand slam hit by an A’s player in the Statcast era (since 2015), surpassing a 434-foot shot hit by Brett Lawrie against Texas on June 24, 2015.

“He hammered it,” said A’s outfielder Colby Thomas, who kicked off the five-run seventh with a leadoff homer. “I just saw the trajectory of it, and I knew that it was gone. We were all very excited. That’s the best arm in the league, so it was really awesome to just square balls up against him.”

Who else but Langeliers to come through in the big moment? His 29th homer of the season continued what has been a spectacular month. The A’s catcher now has 11 homers in August, tied with Gus Zernial (1952) for second-most homers by an A’s player in August in franchise history.

Langeliers might just be baseball’s second-half MVP. Since the All-Star break, he leads all qualified hitters in home runs (17) and slugging percentage (.748), ranks second in OPS (1.097), fourth in hits (46) and is tied for third in RBIs (34). Overall, Langeliers’ 28 home runs while playing catcher are second-most in a season for the A’s, closing in on Terry Steinbach’s record of 34 in 1996.

“There’s only one guy that’s having a better season than Shea right now, and that’s Cal Raleigh,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “Shea’s done everything to put himself, in my opinion, and I hope [Mark] DeRosa watches this, in the [World Baseball Classic] conversation to make that roster. This kid is continuing to get better and better, and the year’s not over.”

There is still a little over a month of games left, but Langeliers may have just locked up the A’s signature moment of the 2025 season -- and perhaps his entire career thus far -- on Monday night.

“It was one of the cooler moments I’ve had in the big leagues,” Langeliers said. “Skubal’s the best pitcher in the sport. To have a moment like that was really, really cool.”

Beyond what was Langeliers’ second career slam and the first regular season grand slam surrendered by Skubal, Monday was an overall display of why the A’s, who now hold MLB’s second-best record since July 24 at 19-10, are so excited about what they are building. The late power surge also included the 26th big fly of the season for Rookie of the Year favorite Nick Kurtz, who came off the bench in the eighth and launched a 380-foot opposite-field two-run blast to left.

On the mound, rookie J.T. Ginn held strong opposite the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner by blanking the Tigers with no runs and eight strikeouts through the first five frames before finishing with three runs allowed in 5 1/3 innings.

“It’s a huge win,” Langeliers said. “To be able to scratch and claw against a guy like Skubal and come out on top shows the young core that we have here. There’s a lot of excitement around that, and we’re kind of showing what we’re capable of doing.”