MLB: Jonah Heim rallies Texas Rangers to victory against Oakland Athletics

After trailing for a considerable period, Texas Rangers fought back in the eighth inning, thanks to a two-run homer with two outs from Jonah Heim to cap a five-run rally, and piped the Oakland Athletics 8-6 on Saturday.

Starter Cole Irvin held down the Rangers, who were trailing 6-2 but took advantage of the A’s struggling bullpen.

Before Heim’s home run on a 0-2 pitch from Andrew Chafin, DJ Peters hit a two-run home run and Yohel Pozo added an RBI double off Sergio Romo (1-3).

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The ball off Heim’s hit was believed to have gone 447 feet. “I don’t think I’ve ever hit a ball that far,” said Heim, according to Associated Press inputs. “As a young team and young guys, it shows you can win a ballgame at any time. It just proves to these guys to stay on course and keep fighting until the last out.”

It’s the sixth time in 76 games this season that the Rangers have come back to win after trailing going into the eighth.

Meanwhile, for the A’s, Matt Olson, Starling Marte and Mark Canha were on the mark with a homer each.

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In the previous 19 games, Oakland, which entered the day one game behind the Yankees for the second AL wild card, has squandered eight saves.

Before the eighth inning, Texas hadn’t done anything. In the fourth, Nick Solak had an RBI double and scored on Yozo’s single, but the Rangers left two runners on base in the second and only had one batter reach base from the fifth through the seventh innings.

Heim’s home run was the Rangers’ first in five games.

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“I just love how the guys rallied around each other,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said. “We fell behind and it’s easy to kind of write that one off. It’s a playoff-contending team, they’re clawing and scratching to make the playoffs. In that eighth inning guys had quality at-bats one after the other. Huge hits. One of our best wins, if not the best, of the year.”

The A’s loss spoiled a strong start by Irvin, who had eight strikeouts in seven crisp innings. The left-hander allowed six hits and two runs with one walk.

“We have a lot of confidence in Romo and Chafin finishing off that game. It just didn’t happen,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “It’s hard to give up five in the eighth inning when you feel like you have the game in control.”