A’s overpower Reds, winning 7 to 4 thanks to 4 home runs
As has been the case this season at Sutter Health Park, home runs were in abundance during Sunday’s game between the Athletics and the Cincinnati Reds.
Jacob Wilson, Colby Thomas, Nick Kurtz and Brent Rooker all homered for the A’s, while Noelvi Marte, Will Benson and Sal Stewart hit home runs for the Reds, with the A’s winning 7-4 in front of a paid attendance of 8,778. The victory boosted the A’s to 70-80, with a slim chance remaining that they can finish the season with a better-than .500 record.
Whatever success the A’s have had in their first season playing home games in West Sacramento has been due in part to their power hitting ability, with the team now at 211 home runs. Some of that’s a credit to Sutter Health Park, whose scant foul ground and relatively short porch to left field at 330 feet have helped make it one of the majors’ best hitter’s parks.
The A’s home ballpark has witnessed the second-most home runs in the majors, at 220, trailing only Dodger Stadium with 231 home runs, according to onlyhomers.com. By contrast, only 156 home runs were hit at Oakland Coliseum in 2024, per the same website.
While Sutter Health Park’s pitching conditions have not always been appreciated by A’s pitchers like free agent acquisition Luis Severino, who has publicly complained, it’s leading to some big numbers for A’s hitters. Kurtz has 32 home runs, catcher Shea Langeliers has 30 and designated hitter Rooker is at 29.
“It’s good,” Rooker said when asked what it was like to hit at Sutter Health Park. “I mean, ball tends to fly pretty well. Sight lines are better now that’s it not middle of the summer (when) the first few innings are kind of tough with shadows and stuff. But it’s been good.”
A’s manager Mark Kotsay said during his press conference following the game that it was clear Sutter Health Park was conducive to offense.
“The dimensions are probably smaller than the average major league field and the ball travels here in Sacramento,” Kotsay said.
Reactions to flags at half-staff
The flags for the United States and California were at half-staff during Sunday’s game, following conservative media personality Charlie Kirk’s death Wednesday.
In a proclamation Wednesday, President Trump ordered flags flown at half-staff “upon all public buildings and grounds” for Kirk through Sunday. An A’s official who spoke on background, meaning comments couldn’t be attributed to them, said that whenever the White House makes a proclamation, Major League Baseball instructs teams to follow suit.
The official noted that the A’s also had flags at half-staff for Friday and Saturday’s games. The team was off Thursday and played at home Wednesday but without flags being lowered.
The move to lower flags drew a mix of responses from fans before Sunday’s game.
Jessica Post, who lives near Auburn and was sitting near the right field foul pole with her sister, Deanna Ritter of Roseville, was happy the A’s had put the flags to half-staff. Post’s political views can vary, she said, though she generally is more conservative. She took the news of Kirk’s death hard.
“It definitely affected us at home,” Post said. “It was kind of somber that night and I think this is something that will be taught in history books for years to come. It’s a huge, huge event.”
Ritter, who is less engaged politically, said she didn’t know who Kirk was prior to his death. That was similar to the view of Richard Ryan, a Hayward resident sitting on the right field grass who was at his third A’s game at Sutter Health Park this season and said the decision to lower flags didn’t affect him.
By contrast, Leslie Pretot, a Sacramento resident, said she was “absolutely appalled” by the decision to lower flags at the ballpark. While standing on a concourse on the third base side, Pretot drew a contrast with the June 14 killing of Minnesota House of Representatives member Melissa Hortman.
“We had a lawmaker shot to death three months ago along with her husband and there was absolutely nothing,” Pretot said. “This guy was just an online personality. He wasn’t even anybody important.”
Elise-Marie Surucu, a mortician who lives in Yuba County, stood next to Pretot.
“I’m a little confused,” Surucu said. “I don’t know who he is, because he’s not a president, he’s not someone in the military – as she stated, it’s someone that was an online personality. And it just shows that the world’s changing.”
From St. Augustine to Old Sacramento
Professional basketball players have long known about Sacramento that there might be less to do here than, say, in San Francisco or New York City.
Players find things to do in town, though.
Austin Hays, an outfielder for the Reds, said he went to school in Jacksonville, Fla., which is near a historic section of St. Augustine. It dates to the mid-16th century and is the oldest continuously-occupied settlement in the United States founded by Europeans.
“We had an off day here, so I went to the Old Sacramento – old-time Sacramento, whatever it’s called – and… all those businesses and those local places that are kind of in that area really reminds me of how St Augustine is in their square,” Hays said.
A’s pitcher Sean Newcomb said he’d previously played for the River Cats in 2023, while he was in the Giants organization and called Sacramento “a good little city.” He said he enjoyed taking his son to Funderland, an amusement park in Land Park.
One person who didn’t seem like he was going to do any local sightseeing: Reds manager Terry Francona.
Francona is in his 24th season as a big-league manager and also played 10 years in the majors. While a number of former big leaguers make their home in the Sacramento region, including Dusty Baker, Steve Sax and Jim Barr, Francona scoffed when asked by a Bee reporter before the game if he’d be seeing any old friends locally.
“I don’t get up and have brunch,” Francona said. “I come to the (expletive) ballpark.”
This story was originally published September 14, 2025 at 5:35 PM.
