Former A’s star calls West Sacramento a ‘different vibe’ as Braves tie series
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- Matt Olson returns to face former A's team at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento.
- Braves hit five home runs to rout A’s 9-2, evening the series after Tuesday loss.
- Olson’s trade yields limited return for A’s, with most prospects no longer on roster.
Matt Olson returning to play the Athletics this week isn’t a typical homecoming.
After six seasons with the A’s in Oakland, the dependable first baseman is playing against his former team this week in the unfamiliar surroundings of Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento for the first time. Olson was one of the last building blocks for the A’s in Oakland before he was traded in March 2022, three years before the A’s moved east up Interstate 80.
And instead of returning to the Oakland Coliseum, where he was a fan favorite, he’s playing against the A’s in a minor league ballpark that drew fewer than 10,000 fans in each of the first two games of the series Tuesday and Wednesday.
“There’s just a different vibe, I would say,” Olson said of going against his former team in a Triple-A stadium. “While you’re out there, you’re playing the same game. ... I’m more so thinking about guys like (Nick) Kurtz or whoever is getting called up. Like, this is my call up to the big leagues, and it’s just a little different vibe.
“It’s nothing against this city or park, but Oakland was a big league stadium.”
Olson reached base three times and scored three runs in the Braves’ 9-2 blowout win Wednesday. He was recently named an All-Star for the third time and second with Atlanta, where the game is being held next week. He’s appeared in 710 consecutive regular season games and is hitting .270/.370/.487 with 17 home runs and 58 RBIs. He won two Gold Gloves with the A’s, in 2018 and 2019.
As the A’s often have, they traded Olson when it was time for him to get paid. He signed an eight-year deal with the Braves worth $168 million the day after the deal was completed. The A’s have one regular in their lineup still remaining from the swap, catcher Shea Langaliers, a career .219 hitter who has shown signs of power, but whose resume doesn’t come close to Olson’s.
The others in the trade: pitcher Joe Estes, outfielder Christian Pache and pitcher Ryan Cusick. Pache and Cusick are no longer with the organization. Estes pitched in two games for the A’s early in the season before getting sent down to Triple-A Las Vegas.
Suffice to say, the Braves are happy to have Olson around.
“Man, I’m telling you, I could get talking on him and we would be here for a while,” said Braves manager Brian Snitker on Wednesday. “Just the pro that he is, how he shows up to play every day day, the consistency in his game, the person, how he handles this whole thing. He’s something the guys can look at it (like) that’s how you do it.”
The Braves had good things to say about the facilities and non-traditional set-up at Sutter Health Park.
“They’ve done a great job here,” Snitker said. “It’s a nice ballpark. ... Under the circumstances, I think they’ve done probably about as good a job as you could have done here, right?”
There had been concerns about the pitching mound earlier in the season, which received a strong review from Braves starter Bryce Elder, who got the win Wednesday while scattering two runs in 6 2/3 innings.
“I thought the surface of the mound was great,” Elder said. “So I know that a lot of games have been played here, so I was really impressed with how the mound held up and how the infield was. So hat’s off to those guys taking care of that, because I thought the surface was really good.”
Braves bats bash back
Atlanta flipped the script after the A’s opened the series with a 10-1 win Tuesday in which they scored nine of their runs in the first two innings.
Right fielder Lawrence Butler, who hit an inside-the-park home run as well as traditional homer in Tuesday’s win, drove in the A’s first run Wednesday in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI groundout but finished 0-for-4. Third baseman Gio Urshela drove in the other with a sixth-inning single.
The Braves’ first four hitters of the game scored on a pair of home runs. Ronald Acuña Jr. led off the game with a home run to left field, his 35th leadoff home run of his career. He hit another in the fourth inning while the Braves hit five in all against A’s starter Mitch Spence, who allowed eight runs total.
Third baseman Austin Riley hit his 14th home run of the season and catcher Drake Baldwin hit his 11th, a three-run shot in the first inning three batters after Acuña’s.
No Wilson
Rookie Jacob Wilson, selected to represent the American League as starting shortstop in next week’s All-Star Game, was out of the lineup Wednesday after leaving in the first inning Tuesday when he was hit by a pitch.
Kotsay said Wilson has a left wrist contusion, but that X-rays returned negative and that Wilson would be day-to-day. Max Muncy got the start in Wilson’s place and went 1-for-4.
The A’s (38-56) have allowed 81 home runs at Sutter Health Park with four games left before the All-Star break. They allowed 70 at home all last season in Oakland. The A’s fell to 17-30 at Sutter Health Park.
The three-game series against the Braves wraps up Thursday, with a 6:05 p.m. start time.
This story was originally published July 9, 2025 at 11:14 PM.
