ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Cody Freeman and Michael Helman had big-league firsts on consecutive pitches for the Texas Rangers after Josh Jung homered in his first at-bat back in the majors.
Freeman lined a tiebreaking RBI double into the right-center gap for his first big league hit in the fifth inning of the Rangers' 7-2 win over the Athletics on Monday night. On the very next pitch from rookie left-hander Jacob Lopez, with the crowd still buzzing, leadoff hitter Helman's first career homer was a three-run shot.
Click to Gallery
Texas Rangers' Michael Helman, right, celebrates after hitting a home run that also scored teammates Cody Freeman, left, and Josh Jung, center, during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Athletics, Monday, July 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Texas Rangers' Cody Freeman, right, hits a double, that scored teammate Josh Smith, in front of Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers, left, during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Monday, July 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Texas Rangers' Michael Helman, right, celebrates after hitting a home run that also scored teammates Cody Freeman, left, and Josh Jung, center, during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Athletics, Monday, July 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Texas Rangers' Cody Freeman, right, hits a double, that scored teammate Josh Smith, in front of Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers, left, during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Monday, July 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Texas Rangers' Michael Helman, right, celebrates after hitting a home run that also scored teammates Cody Freeman, left, and Josh Jung, center, during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Athletics, Monday, July 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Texas Rangers' Cody Freeman, right, hits a double, that scored teammate Josh Smith, in front of Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers, left, during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Monday, July 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Texas Rangers Michael Helman connects for sacrifice bunt that scored teammate Josh Smith during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Athletics, Monday, July 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Texas Rangers' Cody Freeman, center, reacts in front of Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson (5) at second base after hitting a double that scored teammate Josh Smith during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Monday, July 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Texas Rangers' Michael Helman, right, celebrates after hitting a home run that also scored teammates Cody Freeman, left, and Josh Jung, center, during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Athletics, Monday, July 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Texas Rangers' Cody Freeman, right, hits a double, that scored teammate Josh Smith, in front of Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers, left, during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Monday, July 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
“That was cool that Cody got his first hit and an RBI right before that, and then that happened. That was pretty special,” Helman said.
“It’s just one of those moments where, just I hit the ball and I didn’t know what happened from contact to second base,” Freeman said.
The first career RBI by Freeman made it 2-1, and Helman then drove in his first runs. It was the first time in nearly five years that a player had his first MLB hit in the same inning a teammate had his first career homer, since Philadelphia's Mickey Moniak got his hit and Rafael Marchan immediately followed with his first career homer on Sept. 18, 2020, according to Elias.
“Those guys won that game for us,” manager Bruce Bochy said.
About the same time as those back-to-back firsts, the Rangers announced that they had come to terms with California high school shortstop Gavin Fien, their first-round pick in the Major League Baseball amateur draft eight nights earlier.
Batting eighth after being recalled earlier in the day from Triple-A Round Rock along with Helman, Jung homered leading off the third for a 1-0 lead. He also walked before scoring on Helman's homer, then singled and scored again in the seventh.
“It’s a crazy day,” Jung said. “To just get some results like that it’s great. It helps build confidence.”
Jung and Helman were still with the Round Rock team in Las Vegas on Monday morning when they were told they were re-joining the Rangers. After a delayed flight, baggage claim and what Jung termed “a little police escort” in rush-hour traffic, they got to the ballpark about a half-hour before first pitch and both went deep.
“I think it showed that BP is overrated because Hellman and Josh Young got here about 6:30 and didn’t take batting practice or anything. Just put on a uniform,” Bochy said. “It's old-school way, like playing American Legion ball. Just go out there and play."
Helman added a fourth RBI with a safety squeeze bunt in the seventh inning, becoming the first Texas player to have a homer and an RBI sacrifice bunt in a game since Bob Brower on July 11, 1987.
Freeman, a fourth-round pick by the Rangers in 2019, made his MLB debut as a pinch-runner Friday night, when he scored first on Corey Seager's two-run double in the eighth inning of a 2-0 win over Detroit.
After going 0 for 3 in his first big league start Sunday night, when he played third base and his first two at-bats were against American League All-Star starting pitcher Tarik Skubal, Freeman batted ninth as the designated hitter. His first big league hit came off a fellow rookie.
“I was way more relaxed than yesterday,” Freeman said. “You know, I was definitely amped up, heart rate was pounding. That was the benefit of ESPN Sunday night facing the best pitcher in the game. Just can't get higher than that, and then it felt way more relaxed today.”
Freeman raised his arms as soon as Helman connected on the next pitch, then trotted home in front of him.
“That was probably one of the only ones I knew (was gone). But I knew I did the job, I knew if it didn’t get out and at least it’d be a sac fly,” said Helman, who made his big league debut in nine games for Minnesota last season and is with his third organization this year. “I was just trying to do my job, and because the guys before me did theirs, I felt like I needed to get something in the air. And it happened to work out better than I expected.”
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB
Texas Rangers' Michael Helman, right, celebrates after hitting a home run that also scored teammates Cody Freeman, left, and Josh Jung, center, during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Athletics, Monday, July 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Texas Rangers' Cody Freeman, right, hits a double, that scored teammate Josh Smith, in front of Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers, left, during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Monday, July 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Texas Rangers Michael Helman connects for sacrifice bunt that scored teammate Josh Smith during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Athletics, Monday, July 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Texas Rangers' Cody Freeman, center, reacts in front of Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson (5) at second base after hitting a double that scored teammate Josh Smith during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Monday, July 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Texas Rangers' Michael Helman, right, celebrates after hitting a home run that also scored teammates Cody Freeman, left, and Josh Jung, center, during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Athletics, Monday, July 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Texas Rangers' Cody Freeman, right, hits a double, that scored teammate Josh Smith, in front of Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers, left, during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Monday, July 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty on Friday called on members of the public to send any video or other evidence in the fatal shooting of Renee Good directly to her office, challenging the Trump administration's decision to leave the investigation solely to the FBI.
Moriarty said that although her office has collaborated effectively with the FBI in past cases, she is concerned by the Trump administration's decision to bar state and local agencies from playing any role in the investigation into Wednesday's killing of Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis.
She also said that despite the Trump administration’s insistence that the officer who shot Good has complete legal immunity, that isn’t the case.
“We do have jurisdiction to make this decision with what happened in this case,” she said at a news conference. “It does not matter that it was a federal law enforcement agent.”
Moriarty said her office would post a link for the public to submit footage of the shooting, even though she acknowledged that she wasn't sure what legal outcome submissions might produce.
The prosecutor's announcement came on a third day of Minneapolis protests over Good's killing and a day after federal immigration officers shot and wounded two people in Portland, Oregon.
Good's wife, Becca Good, released a statement to Minnesota Public Radio on Friday saying, “kindness radiated out of her.”
"On Wednesday, January 7th, we stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns," Becca Good said.
“I am now left to raise our son and to continue teaching him, as Renee believed, that there are people building a better world for him,” she wrote. “That the people who did this had fear and anger in their hearts, and we need to show them a better way.”
The reaction to the Good's shooting was immediate in the city where police killed George Floyd in 2020, with hundreds of protesters converging on the shooting scene and the school district canceling classes for the rest of the week as a precaution.
On Thursday night, hundreds marched in freezing rain down one of Minneapolis’ major thoroughfares, chanting “ICE out now!” and holding signs saying, “Killer ice off our streets." And on Friday, protesters were out again demonstrating outside of a federal facility that is serving as a hub for the immigration crackdown that began Tuesday in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Authorities erected barricades outside the facility Friday.
City workers, meanwhile, removed makeshift barricades made of old Christmas trees and other debris that had been blocking the streets near the scene of Good's shooting. Officials said they would leave up a shrine to the 37-year-old mother of three.
The Portland shootings happened outside a hospital Thursday afternoon. Federal immigration officers shot and wounded a man and woman, identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Venezuela nationals Luis David Nico Moncada and Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras, who were inside a vehicle, and their conditions weren't immediately known. The FBI and the Oregon Department of Justice were investigating.
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson and the city council called on ICE to end all operations in the city until a full investigation is completed. Hundreds protested Thursday night at a local ICE building. Early Friday, Portland police reported that officers had arrested several protesters after asking the to get out of a street to allow traffic to flow.
Just as it did following Good's shooting, DHS defended the actions of the officers in Portland, saying it occurred after a Venezuelan man with alleged gang ties and who was involved in a recent shooting tried to “weaponize” his vehicle to hit the officers. It wasn't immediately clear if the shootings were captured on video, as Good's was.
The Minneapolis shooting happened on the second day of the immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities, which Homeland Security said is the biggest immigration enforcement operation ever. More than 2,000 officers are taking part and Noem said they have made more than 1,500 arrests.
The government is also shifting immigration officers to Minneapolis from sweeps in Louisiana, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. This represents a pivot, as the Louisiana crackdown that began in December had been expected to last into February.
Good's death — at least the fifth tied to immigration sweeps since Trump took office — has resonated far beyond Minneapolis, as protests happening in other places, including Texas, California, Detroit and Missouri.
In Washington, D.C., on Thursday, a woman held a sign that said, “Stop Trump’s Gestapo,” as hundreds of people marched to the White House. Protesters in Pflugerville, Texas, north of Austin, banged on the walls of an ICE facility. And a man in Los Angeles burned an American flag in front of federal detention center.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, President Donald Trump and others in his administration have repeatedly characterized the Minneapolis shooting as an act of self-defense and cast Good as a villain, suggesting she used her vehicle as a weapon to attack the officer who shot her.
But state and local officials and protesters rejected that characterization, with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey saying videos show the self-defense argument is “garbage.”
Several bystanders captured footage of Good's killing, which happened in a neighborhood south of downtown.
The recordings show an officer approaching an SUV stopped across the middle of the road, demanding the driver open the door and grabbing the handle. The Honda Pilot begins to pull forward and a different ICE officer standing in front of it pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots at close range, jumping back as the vehicle moves toward him.
It is not clear from the videos if the vehicle makes contact with the officer, and there is no indication of whether the woman had interactions with agents earlier. After the shooting, the SUV speeds into two cars parked on a curb before crashing to a stop.
The federal agent who fatally shot Good is an Iraq War veteran who has served for nearly two decades in the Border Patrol and ICE, according to records obtained by AP.
Noem has not publicly named him, but a Homeland Security spokesperson said her description of his injuries last summer refers to an incident in Bloomington, Minnesota, in which court documents identify him as Jonathan Ross.
Ross got his arm stuck in the window of a vehicle whose driver was fleeing arrest on an immigration violation. Ross was dragged and fired his Taser. A jury found the driver guilty of assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous weapon.
Attempts to reach Ross, 43, at phone numbers and email addresses associated with him were not successful.
Associated Press reporters Steve Karnowski and Mark Vancleave in Minneapolis; Ed White in Detroit; Valerie Gonzalez in Brownsville, Texas; Graham Lee Brewer in Norman, Oklahoma; Michael Biesecker in Washington; Jim Mustian and Safiyah Riddle in New York; Ryan Foley in Iowa City, Iowa; and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.
Protesters confront law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)
Protesters' shadows are cast on the street near law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)
Protesters confront law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)
An American flag burns outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
Two protesters are lit by a police light as they walk outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
Protesters are arrested by federal agents outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)
Protesters sit on a barrier that is being assembled outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building as protesters gather in Minneapolis, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)
Protesters stand off against law enforcement outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Protesters chant and march during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer the day before, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Protesters gather during a rally for Renee Good, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, after she was fatally shot by an ICE officer the day before. (AP Photo/Adam Bettcher)
Protesters confront federal agents outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
People gather around a makeshift memorial honoring the victim of a fatal shooting involving federal law enforcement agents, near the site of the shooting, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino arrives as protesters gather outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
A protester pours water in their eye after confronting law enforcement outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
People gather around a makeshift memorial honoring the victim of a fatal shooting involving federal law enforcement agents, near the site of the shooting, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Tom Baker)
