A’s Las Vegas debut, a 29-run bonanza, easily makes for craziest MLB game of 2026
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- A’s lost a 12‑inning game 15‑14 in a 29‑run, 34‑hit slugfest.
- A’s combined for seven home runs, with two each by Soderstrom and Kurtz.
- Las Vegas Ballpark had a reported sellout of 8,519 and a flyover.
Athletics manager Mark Kotsay has previously called the Las Vegas Ballpark, the home of the Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators, a hitter-friendly stadium. He has typically used this as an explanation for slightly inflated pitching stats for the organization’s rising stars.
However, with his Major League team playing at Las Vegas Ballpark this week as an unofficial introduction to their future hometown, Kotsay likely wasn’t expecting the offensive explosion that was to come.
The first pitch an A’s player saw in Monday’s series opener against the Milwaukee Brewers was catcher Shea Langeliers’ 17th home run of the season, which tied the game at 1-1.
But that was only the beginning — the game took 4 hours and 14 minutes to finish, well longer the league average that has dropped below 3 hours.
When the dust settled, the A’s lost a 12-inning, 29-run and 34-hit slugfest that saw A’s hitters amass seven home runs — two apiece for Tyler Soderstrom and Nick Kurtz — but still come up short 15-14.
The 29 combined runs were the most in an MLB game this season, and the game was also just the fourth game in league history with 29 runs and 11 home runs. According to MLB.com, a 15-14 final score has occurred 18 times since 1900.
There were also a combined 16 automated balls and strikes, or ABS, challenges Monday, breaking the record of 12 since the system was put in place for MLB to start this season.
How’d it happen?
With the A’s leading 2-1 going into the third inning, the game appeared to be somewhat normal before both Brice Turang and Andrew Vaughn homered for the Brewers — two of Milwaukee’s four long balls Monday — to plate three runs.
But in a game like Monday’s, the A’s saw a three on the scoreboard and responded with a six-run bottom half. The five-hit, one-walk inning was capped off by a one-out Zack Gelof home run, his seventh of the season, to make the score 8-4 after three innings.
After Gelof homered, Brewers starter Kyle Harrison was pulled and A’s starter Jeffrey Springs went on to last just two more frames, setting the stage for a crazy day for both bullpens.
Six relievers on each side pitched Monday, all but two going at least a full inning, meaning 14 pitchers toed the rubber at some point during the 12-inning contest.
Beyond the third, the teams traded one or two runs back and forth for much of the rest of the game, with only the fourth and 11th innings completely lacking scoring.
Notably, after forcing a double play in the top of the eighth inning to save Mark Leiter Jr. from a first-and-third jam, Hogan Harris blew a save for the A’s in the top of the ninth, surrendering a no-out, two-RBI double to Andrew Vaughn to tie the game up at 10-10.
Both teams scored four runs in a wild 10th, before going silent in the scoreless 11th.
A’s reliever Jose Suarez earned the loss by allowing the automatic, extra-inning runner to score from second in the top half of the 12th inning. Despite getting the loss, Suarez was arguably the most consistent pitcher of the entire night, throwing two frames with four strikeouts and no earned runs (if the automatic runner beginning on second base during extra innings scores, it does not count as an earned run for the pitcher).
Alika Williams got down a sacrifice bunt to automatic runner Gelof to third with one out before Brewers reliever Chad Patrick struck out Langeliers and Jeff McNeil two batters later to earn the save, with the red-hot Kurtz intentionally walked between the strikeouts.
Why are the A’s in Vegas?
While the A’s didn’t get a win in their quasi-Vegas debut, the game generated buzz in the team’s future home city.
The game was a reported sellout, with 8,519 fans in attendance, according to the Athletic. Pauly D of “Jersey Shore” fame and Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter threw out the ceremonial first pitches, while the starting lineup was announced with flames firing from portable torches. Later, fighter jets flew over during the national anthem.
It was the first of a six-game set at Las Vegas Ballpark, with two more games against the Brewers on Tuesday and Wednesday followed by a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies from Friday through Sunday.
After the conclusion of their six-game “home” set in Vegas, the A’s will return to their temporary home, Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, for two more home series next week. The A’s are in the second of a planned three-year stint in West Sacramento before their new stadium on the Las Vegas strip is completed.
This season, the A’s are averaging more than 10,000 fans at the home of the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats — well over a reported sellout at the Vegas Triple-A stadium. A sellout at Sutter Health Park is usually reported with over 12,000 fans in attendance.
While that is one factor that may have led to the A’s decision to temporarily play in West Sacramento over Vegas, another is that they are reportedly able to receive most of their local TV rights deal by not straying too far from their former home Oakland.
With the A’s temporary stay as one key talking point, regional officials recently launched West Sacramento into the conversation for a future MLB expansion team, though that process is still in the early stages.
The A’s have largely praised Sacramento as a baseball city, often noting fan engagement as a positive, with Kotsay at one point saying he thought the city had everything it needed to be a baseball town.
After Monday’s game, though, Langeliers praised the spectacle of the Vegas game experience.
“The atmosphere was good,” Langeliers said postgame, according to MLB.com. “There was a lot of energy. Cool production to start with a flyover. Those are always awesome. I thought it was cool.”
The A’s play the Brewers again at Las Vegas Ballpark at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday. They will return to West Sacramento next Monday for a 6:40 p.m. bout with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
