The Texas Rangers completed a three-game sweep of the Athletics on Wednesday with a 2-1 win. The A's have now lost five of their first six games coming out of the All-Star break, and sit in last place in the AL West with one of the worst records in all of baseball.

Anyone looking for the type of play that might be emblematic of the A's season could find it in the bottom of the 7th inning. With the score tied 1-1 with two outs and a runner on first, Texas catcher Jonah Heim hit a high pop fly to shallow left field that should have ended the inning.

Instead the Rangers took the lead.

Shortstop Jacob Wilson and left fielder Tyler Soderstrom converged on the ball with Wilson appearing to call off his teammate. With Soderstrom not slowing down, Wilson held up at the final second and ducked, thinking the outfielder was going to catch it.

The ball ended up landing behind both players as Wyatt Langford, who had started the play on first, sprinted around the bases. Langford ended up sliding safely into home to beat the throw from Soderstrom.

Heim, who slammed his bat on the ground after he hit the ball a few seconds earlier, ended up on second, credited with an RBI double. Heim's misplayed pop fly ended up producing the game-winning run.


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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Rangers Score Game-Winning Run on Routine Pop Fly the A’s Didn't Even Try to Catch.

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