Justin Foscue did not need a runner on base. He led off the fourth, drove Gage Jump's pitch to left-center, and the Associated Press credited him with his 10th home run of the season.
ESPN measured the ball at 417 feet. The solo shot made it 4-0, and the Texas Rangers beat the Athletics 8-1 on Monday night at Globe Life Field. ESPN's box lists the same season total, Foscue (10). Texas moved to 68-70. The Athletics dropped to 53-85 and have lost four in a row.
Limited looks, real damage
Foscue's role is platoon-heavy. NBC Sports' fantasy desk noted that his at-bats are largely reserved for left-handed pitching and that he was pinch-hit for once Jump left the game. Against Jump he went 1-for-2 with the homer and a flyout in the second. When Evan Carter replaced him in the fifth, Foscue already had the only long ball of the night for either club.
CBS Sports' batting line matches: one hit, one run, one RBI, one home run in two at-bats. The AP recap put the swing in the middle of Texas' early stacking: two in the second, one in the third, Foscue's leadoff drive in the fourth, then three more in the fifth after Jump walked the bases full of traffic.
Jump lasted 4.1 innings, allowed six hits and seven earned runs, struck out two, and walked three. He fell to 6-9. The Athletics finished August 8-20, their worst August since 7-21 in 1978, the AP reported.
Around the homer
Brandon Nimmo had already done the dirty work. He led off the second with a swinging-bunt single Jump bobbled, scored on Elias Díaz's groundout, and watched Cody Freeman single Jake Burger home. Nimmo's single in the third scored Corey Seager for a 3-0 lead before Foscue's fourth-inning blast. Nimmo finished with two hits and two RBIs, then added a sacrifice fly in the fifth.
Jacob deGrom (10-9) made the cushion hold. He worked seven shutout innings with one hit, no walks, and eight strikeouts, facing the minimum 21 batters after Lawrence Butler's second-inning single ended in a double play.
ESPN's line on deGrom is 7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K. Robby Ahlstrom and Ben Peoples finished it; the Athletics scratched across a run in the ninth on a Cortes single, Heim double, and Hernaiz sacrifice fly.
