American Cole Hocker pulls Olympic shocker in men's 1,500, leaving Kerr and Ingebrigtsen behind

SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — American Cole Hocker pulled the upset of the Olympics on Tuesday night, beating his personal-best time by almost 3 seconds to outrace favorites Jakob Ingebrigsten and Josh Kerr for the title at 1,500 meters.

Hocker won the race in an Olympic record 3 minutes, 27.65 seconds, pulling from fifth to first over the final 300 meters to take down the two runners whose rivalry dominated the buildup to the much-anticipated race.

“This may be an upset to a lot of people, but if you've been following my season, you knew I was capable of it,” Hocker said. “But still, things had to go my way today.”

Hocker, a 23-year-old product of University of Oregon, was listed as much as a 30-1 long shot for this race. He beat Kerr by .14 seconds, while Ingebrigtsen, who set the pace through the first 1250 meters, ended up in fourth behind American Yared Nuguse.

About an hour after that surprise came an American victory most people saw coming when Gabby Thomas powered through the curve to win the 200-meter title in 21.83 seconds. Her .25-second margin over Julien Alfred was .11-second bigger than Hocker's even though Thomas raced half a lap and Hocker nearly four.

Hocker, who recorded his previous personal best of 3:30.59 at Olympic trials this summer, notched the first U.S. win in the metric mile since Matt Centrowitz took gold in 2016.

This is the first time Americans put two men on the 1,500-meter podium since the Stockholm Games in 1912.

“I kind of figured it would be fast,” Hocker said. “I figured Ingebrigtsen would want to take it out of guys like me. But I knew I hadn't been tested at this level yet, and I knew I was capable of being as strong as any of those guys out there.”

All eyes for this one were trained on Ingebrigtsen, the defending champion out of Norway who came in with a point to prove, and Kerr, the Scotsman who beat him last year at world championships.

Ever since that win, Kerr and Ingebrigtsen poked at each other. Among the salvos that stuck was Kerr's assertion that Ingebrigtsen only won races with pacesetters, the likes of which are not allowed at major races like this.

Against that backdrop, Ingebrigtsen darted to the front quickly and ran there for the first 3 1/2 laps, while Kerr traded between second and third, getting ready for his typical windup and a potential slingshot past the Norweigan over the closing stretch, much the way he did last year.

“Of course, it’s a tactical error that I’m not able to reduce my pace the first 800," Ingebrigtsen said.

While he and Kerr were wearing each other out, Hocker, at 5-foot-9 1/2 and more than 3 1/2 inches shorter than the top two contenders, almost looked like he was trying to photo bomb the end of this race.

As they entered the homestretch, he snuck up on the inside once, only to have Ingebrigtsen block that move.

So, Hocker fell back and wound up for another try with about 50 meters left. Both he and Kerr, who was racing on the outside, passed Ingebrigtsen, then Hocker beat the Scot to the finish line, first with a look of disbelief on his face, but then thumping his chest twice to celebrate a win no one saw coming — maybe except for him.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Cole Hocker, of the United States, celebrates after winning the men's 1500-meters final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Cole Hocker, of the United States, celebrates after winning the men's 1500-meters final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Cole Hocker, of the United States, right, competes in the men's 1500-meters final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Gold medal winner Cole Hocker, of the United States, right, shakes hands with fourth placed Jakob Ingebrigtsen, of Norway, following the men's 1500 meters final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Cole Hocker, right, of the United States, runs with Josh Kerr, of Britain, and Yared Nuguse, left, of the United States, to the line to win the men's 1500-meters final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France.(AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Cole Hocker, of the United States, celebrates after winning the men's 1500-meters final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Jakob Ingebrigtsen, of Norway, leads while Cole Hocker, of the United States, left, trails behind in the men's 1500 meters final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Cole Hocker, of the United States, right, celebrates after setting a new Olympic record winning the men's 1,500-meter final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Cole Hocker, of the United States, celebrates after winning the men's 1500-meter final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Gold medalist Cole Hocker, right, of the United States, shakes hands with fourth placed Jakob Ingebrigtsen, of Norway, after winning the men's 1500 meters final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Cole Hocker, of the United States, crosses the finish line ahead of Josh Kerr, of Britain, and fourth placed Jakob Ingebrigtsen, of Norway, to win the men's 1500 meters final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Adolis García hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning, Cody Bradford pitched seven strong innings after the worst start of his career, and the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 on Wednesday night.

The win kept the defending World Series-champion Rangers alive in the AL West race, trailing first-place Houston by 10 games with 10 to play.

García launched an inside sinker over the left-field wall off Toronto starter Bowden Francis (8-5) after Wyatt Langford singled.

“He swings hard, he swings a lot,” Francis said of García. “I guess the velo was dropping during that time.”

Bradford (6-3) allowed five hits and no walks while striking out six.

The seven shutout innings are the most in a game during his two-year career. He was knocked out of his previous start after allowing career highs in hits (nine), runs (eight) and homers (three) in 3 2/3 innings in a 14-4 loss at Arizona.

“Throughout the week, you’ve got to try and digest what happened, see where I can make adjustments, whether it was just game plan went wrong or just poor execution, or a little bit of both,” Bradford said. “Then you flush it.”

Bradford was perfect through four innings before Alejandro Kirk opened the fifth with a smash back to the mound that caromed off Bradford’s left foot and rolled into right field for a single. It extended Kirk’s hitting streak to a career-high 12 games.

Spencer Horwitz’s double to left-center put runners on second and third with no outs before Bradford retired the next three batters.

Blue Jays manager John Schneider credited Bradford’s “deceptive fastball.”

“When you’re throwing 89, 92, you’ve got to have pretty good deception with that at this level,” Schneider said. “Kept us off balance.”

Kirby Yates pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 31st save in 32 opportunities.

Francis, who took no-hitters into the ninth inning in two of his previous four starts, allowed a double to Marcus Semien, the Rangers’ first hitter of the game. He gave up five hits and one walk in six innings.

Francis has a 1.96 ERA in nine starts with 54 strikeouts and seven walks since being moved back into the starting rotation in late July.

“I don’t even want to get complacent, on cruise control,” Francis said. “Just keep attacking.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Blue Jays: SS Bo Bichette was a late scratch with a right middle finger contusion suffered during infield practice. Schneider said the team will get back x-rays on Thursday. Bichette was activated Tuesday following a calf injury and played for the first time in two months, going 2 for 5 with one RBI at the plate. ... INF Will Wagner (left knee inflammation) will have the knee scoped on Thursday. Schneider said Wagner should be ready to start spring training. Wagner, son of former major leaguer Billy Wagner, was acquired from Houston at the trade deadline.

UP NEXT

Rangers rookie RHP Kumar Rocker (0-0, 2.25 ERA) will make his home debut against Blue Jays RHP Kevin Gausman (12-11, 4.02) in the series finale. Rocker allowed one run in four innings at Seattle last Thursday in his major league debut.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Toronto Blue Jays' Alejandro Kirk advances to third on a double by Spencer Horwitz in the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers' Marcus Semien, left, celebrates his double as Toronto Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr., right, looks on in the first inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Toronto Blue Jays' Ernie Clement fields a ground out by Texas Rangers' Marcus Semien in the fifth inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)w

Toronto Blue Jays second baseman Leo Jimenez makes a leaping catch on a line out by Texas Rangers' Jonah Heim in the second inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Bowden Francis throws to the Texas Rangers in the first inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers starting pitcher Cody Bradford throws to the Toronto Blue Jays in the fourth inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe (30) reaches out for the throw to the bag to complete the ground out by Toronto Blue Jays' Spencer Horwitz (48) in the second inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers right fielder Adolis Garcia settles beneath a Toronto Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. fly out in the first inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers starting pitcher Cody Bradford throws to the Toronto Blue Jays in the first inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers' Marcus Semien, left, and Adolis Garcia walk off the field after their team's win against the Toronto Blue Jays in a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)