Shea Langeliers hit a three-run homer off his former teammate Paul Blackburn and went 4 for 4 again, leading the Oakland Athletics to a 9-4 win over the struggling New York Mets on Tuesday night.
Langeliers also had two doubles and was one triple short of hitting for the cycle. Not realizing he needed a triple, Langeliers casually jogged into second base with a double in the right-field corner in the ninth inning.
When reporters approached Langeliers after the game, second baseman Zack Gelof wanted to ask the first question.
“Did you know you needed a triple on the last at-bat?” Gelof asked. “No I did not,” Langeliers replied with a smile.
After speaking with third base coach Eric Martins, Langeliers said he felt he could have reached a triple.
“I guess it hadn’t even registered,” Langeliers said. “I didn’t know until I stopped at second, looked in the dugout and the dugout was freaking out. And I was like, ‘Oh, I needed a triple.’”
It was Langeliers’ second straight game with four hits; he was 4 for 4 against Toronto on Saturday. He had struggled previously, going 8 for 46 in 13 games from July 22 through last Friday, but his batting average improved from .208 to .226 with these two games.
“It was impressive that he came out again today and threw up another four-hit game,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “When he gets hot, he gets locked in, he feels good about his swing and he’s swinging at strikes, he definitely is an offensive threat.”
Seth Brown began the scoring with a three-run double against Blackburn (5-3) in the first inning before Langeliers, who caught 24 of Blackburn’s last 50 starts with Oakland, hit a 406-foot homer to left-center field in a four-run third inning.
“It’s weird — you spend two years catching a guy and working together to get guys out and then you have to face him,” Langeliers said. “I think it can kind of go both ways.
Obviously, he watched me hit the last two years, too. But I know how he likes to get guys out. I know what he likes to do.” Miguel Andujar and Langeliers each had a run-scoring hit off José Buttó in the sixth.
The Mets, who had been outscored 31-5 in their last four losses, scored three runs in the fifth inning off starter Joe Boyle, who had just been called up from Triple-A Las Vegas that day. Boyle gave up an RBI double to Jesse Winker and Pete Alonso ended a slump of 0-for-15 with a two-run single.
Austin Adams, who signed with the Mets last November but was bought by the Athletics on March 24, came into a tough spot with two runners on and no outs. He won by striking out Jeff McNeil, getting Jose Iglesias to pop up, and striking out Francisco Alvarez.
After striking out Alvarez, Adams (1-2) imitated the Mets’ “OMG” celebration.
“Honestly, I looked up and I was so surprised that I got out of it, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’” Adams said. “And then it dawned on me like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ And then so I did it.”
The Mets started the celebration after Iglesias, who wrote and performed the song “OMG,” joined the team in late May.
“That song’s sick,” Adams said. “Iglesias is a good dude. So hopefully nobody’s offended. Just having fun.” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said he didn’t mind Adams’ celebration.
“He got out of a big jam,” Mendoza said. “He came in, threw strikes, got three outs.”
Iglesias was 2 for 4 with a run-scoring single. New York, which was a game behind Atlanta for the final National League wild card spot at the start of the day, has now lost eight of their last 12 games. Boyle gave up four runs and struck out six.
Blackburn, who was the longest-tenured Athletics player before being traded to the Mets on July 30, allowed seven runs (six earned) in four innings.
“It’s definitely weird. I know everybody over there. A lot of emotions,” Blackburn said. “It was more excitement, really.
Kind of got outside of myself there, which I think kind of led to just being a little sporadic throughout the night. But at the end of the day, I just didn’t get the job done.”
