Star rookie hurt as A’s West Sacramento home streak ends against Rangers

Momentum built from a season-best series earlier this week slowed as the Athletics fell Friday night to the Texas Rangers at Sutter Health Park.

The A’s entered the three-game weekend series against their divisional foe with a league-best 21-10 stretch dating back to late July, a run that began after the Rangers swept a three-game series against them in Texas.

But a combination of poorly timed infield mistakes and cooled-down bats set the tone for a commanding 5-2 Rangers win that also saw A’s rookie first baseman Nick Kurtz leave the game early with right oblique soreness.

“Defensively, tonight, we didn’t make two plays, in my opinion, that could have helped us win the game,” said A’s manager Mark Kotsay.

“It could have been a different game at that point, but that’s baseball,” he added. “We’re going to make errors, we’re going to make physical errors, and we just couldn’t get anything offensively going.”

Kotsay said that the team hoped to have an update Saturday on Kurtz’s health. Kurtz said after the game that the oblique was “bugging” him earlier in the day, and that the feeling increased after a couple of at-bats. He was replaced from the lineup in the fifth inning, with the A’s trailing 3-2.

A couple of infield bloopers in the top of the second inning put runners on, two of whom scored for a 2-0 Rangers lead. The A’s answered back with a busy third inning that culminated with a two-run double to left field off the bat of designated hitter Brent Rooker, knotting the game at 2-2.

Momentum shifted from back to Texas when catcher Jonah Heim hit a solo home run off of A’s pitcher Jeffrey Springs to put the Rangers up 3-2.

Springs started for the A’s and lasted nearly six innings before being pulled for pitcher Michael Kelly, who got the A’s safely out of the sixth inning.

But Kelly lasted less than an inning. An error by A’s second baseman Zack Gelof put Rangers first baseman Rowdy Tellez on base. Rangers outfielder Michael Helman then snuck a deep shot over the fence on the fair side of the left-field foul pole to give the Rangers a 5-2 lead.

After allowing the two-run homer, Kelly was replaced by pitcher Eduarniel Nunez, who pitched through the end of the eighth inning. Brady Basso pitched a scoreless ninth.

“We just came out and got beat tonight, that’s plain and simple,” Kotsay said.

Although errors and infield mistakes struck the A’s at key moments, the club had its share of defensive stands. Third baseman Darell Hernaiz made strong infield plays, including when he stopped a hard infield grounder and flipped it into a double play that saved the A’s from a potentially dangerous eighth inning.

“He’s a very good ball player,” Springs said of Hernaiz. “… Today at third, coming to get the ball, the double play that you had there diving to his glove side. He’s a really good athlete, really good player. So it’s kind of become expected from him now. I don’t know how many put-outs he had today, but he was all over the place.”

Left fielder Tyler Soderstrom — who switched from left field to first base following Kurtz’s departure, then back to left later in the game — saved a potential extra-base hit when he caught a deep shot at the wall by Helman, who had homered earlier.

Starting pitcher Jack Leiter threw six innings for the Rangers and was followed by Hoby Milner and Shawn Armstrong, who held the A’s scoreless through the last three innings.

“They’ve got guys down there that have pretty good stuff and it’s a challenge for hitters when you’re behind to just go up and take at bats and get on base and try to give ourselves a chance,” Koltsay said of the Rangers’ pitching depth. “You know, they made us swing our bats tonight, they didn’t give away any free bases.”

The A’s, now 63-73 on the season, are in a virtual tie with the Los Angeles Angels (62-72) for last place in the American League West while the Rangers (69-67) remain in the hunt for a wild card playoff spot.

The A’s face the Rangers again in West Sacramento at 7 p.m. Saturday followed by the series finale at 1:05 p.m. Sunday.

This story was originally published August 29, 2025 at 11:56 PM.