Athletics beat Rangers as Kurtz makes MLB debut

And he collected an RBI hit!

The A’s got back into the win column on Wednesday evening, beating the Texas Rangers 5-2 at Sutter Health Park on the day that the club welcomed star prospect Nick Kurtz to the squad. A nice way to welcome the new kid aboard and a day that him and hopefully the organization remember for a long, long time.

Over the first month of the season the Athletics have had a tough time at home. The team entered tonight just 2-8 in their new home ballpark. They have been consistently outscored in the early innings and put in a position to claw back right from the beginning of the games. Tonight the A’s finally flipped the script in the middle game of the series against the Texas Rangers and got out to the quick start themselves.

Facing rookie Kumar Rocker for the first time, the A’s immediately jumped on the right-hander when leadoff man Lawrence Butler jumped on a slider that didn’t slide as much as Rocker intended it to. He deposited it over the right field wall for a solo home run to give the A’s the quick 1-0 lead:

That was Butler’s fourth long ball of the year and second in as many days. That wouldn’t be the end of the inning for the A’s, not by a long shot. A 1-out double from new left fielder Tyler Soderstrom brought catcher Shea Langeliers to the plate and he swatted an RBI single to bring in the team’s second run of the first inning:

Next up came Jacob Wilson and he did what Jacob Wilson does and collected a base it. That brought up the man of the day as Nick Kurtz strode to the plate for his first career at-bat. With two outs and runners on the corners Kurtz took the fourth pitch he saw and roped it just under the glove of the second baseman for an RBI single, his first career hit and RBI all rolled up into one swing:

Grab that ball indeed. That would be the one and only hit that Kurtz would collect today but getting an RBI hit in his first career at-bat is a great way to start a career. Getting that first base knock out of the way has got to take a bit of pressure off the 22-year old first baseman. Now let’s see that first home run.

The A’s would tack on one more in the first against Rocker when Gio Urshela followed Kurtz with an RBI double to make it a 4-spot against the Rangers rookie starter. The second inning saw more traffic on the bases for the Athletics thanks to a pair of walks and a single. Up to bat already for the second time tonight and with the bases loaded Jacob Wilson did something he hadn’t done all season in 87 prior plate appearances: he worked a walk, and this one brought in the A’s fifth run of the game:

Whatever works. By that point Rocker was out of the game, pitching just 1 ²⁄₃ innings against the Athletics tonight. It would be essentially a bullpen game for Texas the rest of the evening.

Meanwhile Athletics starting pitcher JP Sears came out of the gates on a roll. While opponents have gotten out to quick starts at Sutter Health consistently Sears did a good job to keep Texas off the board for the first three innings, allowing just one baserunner via an error from Wilson (he’s human after all) that was promptly thrown out at second trying to steal off Langeliers. The A’s backstop had himself a night tonight as he had three singles and a double to go along with that caught stealing.

Texas’ first hit off Sears was also their first run when second-year outfielder Wyatt Langford took a missed fastball down the middle and sent it over the wall in left center to put the Rangers on the board. Texas collected a few more hits off Sears as the game went on but the left-hander was generally in control while he was on the mound. Manager Mark Kotsay even tried squeezing one more inning out of him but a single and walk ended the left-hander’s day after five full frames, turning to righty reliever Justin Sterner to take over.

• JP Sears: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER,

One of those baserunners Sterner inherited did end up coming around to score and was charged to Sears, All in all it was another encouraging outing from Sears as his 3.21 ERA leads all Athletics’ starters so far. He’s now delivered quality outings in four of his five starts this year and the lone non-quality start was still a decent enough outing. He’ll get the rest of the homestand off as he’s scheduled to take the mound again next week against these same Rangers to kick off the road trip.

The A’s offense quieted down after Rocker departed the game without making it through two innings. Rangers long man Jacob Latz kept the home team from adding on to their lead as he pitched 4 ¹⁄₃ innings and allowed just two hits, saving the Texas bullpen after a short outing from their starter.

It was a good thing the bats didn’t need to add on anymore too. The bullpen after Sears’ outing was dominant. Sterner allowed one of his inherited runners to score but didn’t allow a hit or walk during his lone inning of work. Righty Mitch Spence came on for the seventh and had a clean outing with just one single allowed and fellow righty Tyler Ferguson followed that up with a perfect eighth with a pair of strikeouts.

The A’s finally had a chance to use their flamethrowing closer to finish off a win. Entering just his seventh save opportunity of the season, 2024 All-Star Mason Miller’s appearances have been few and far between but he’s yet to blow a save chance so far. Tonight he continued that streak as he nailed down the win for the Green & Gold, finishing off the Rangers with three strikeouts and securing his seventh save of the season.

Now that’s what A’s fans have been looking for. A well-rounded team win in front of the home crowd. Sears was dominant in his fifth start and continues his strong start to the season. Star prospect Nick Kurtz had a debut to remember with his first hit and RBI in his first at-bat. Lawrence Butler looks like he’s getting into a rhythm at the plate and could be ready to explode the way A’s fans know he can. Shea Langeliers collected a career-high four hits and five total bases and continues to have a strong season behind the plate. Jacob Wilson collected another hit and is now hitting .337 this season. And the bullpen did what it needed to do with four shutout innings to wrap this game up nice and clean.

The A’s are now 11-13 heading into tomorrow’s series finale against the Rangers. They’ll be looking to take the series against their division rival with the help of rookie JT Ginn. The righty has gotten off to a decent start so far, going 1-1 with a 3.60 ERA in his first two starts since joining the club. Texas will counter with former Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom, who is trying to rediscover his former dominant self after years of injuries. He’s off to a solid start to far here in 2025 as he’s sporting a 3.23 ERA through four starts this year. Let’s finish this series off on a winning note.