Astros blast A’s in front of one of smallest West Sacramento crowds of the season
The game began with the scoreboard not working. By the end of it, the Athletics might have wished it remained out of order.
The A’s dropped the finale of a three-game series Thursday afternoon to the Houston Astros, 11-5, after falling behind 5-0 by the second inning while Houston starting pitcher Framber Valdez was in the midst of of striking out five straight A’s hitters.
The new video board at Sutter Health Park was on the fritz in the top of the first, showing nothing but a blank screen. It was fixed by the bottom of the frame, after the A’s and starting pitcher J.T. Ginn yielded a pair of runs. Ginn was lifted after allowing 7 runs in 3 2/3 innings.
“We talk about free bases really hurting us and setting a tone,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said of Ginn, who hit a batter and had a walk in the first inning that both came around to score. “For J.T., that first inning, he really pitched his way into trouble. When you do that against a good team, it’s tough and maneuver and get out of those type of jams.”
The Astros came into the day trailing the Detroit Tigers by one game for the third American League Wild Card spot in the playoffs. Their victory snapped a skid of five straight losses.
A’s slugger Nick Kurtz hit his MLB-rookie leading 34th and 35th home runs of the season, with his first coming while the A’s trailed 9-0 in the sixth. And Shea Langeliers had a four-hit game, following up his perfect 4-for-4 night on Wednesday.
But the game fell out of reach early in front of the fifth-smallest crowd of the season at Sutter Health Park. The A’s scored four of their five runs in the eighth and ninth innings. The A’s announced 8,293 fans on hand Thursday.
And, with football season in full swing, it seems unlikely the A’s will draw big crowds in any of their three games in their final series against the Kansas City Royals, who were eliminated from postseason contention on Tuesday. Saturday night’s game coincides with home football games at both Sacramento State and UC Davis, the latter of which set an attendance record last weekend. Sunday’s day game overlaps with a San Francisco 49ers home game in Santa Clara.
A’s outfielder Lawrence Butler posted a video on his Instagram story early Thursday of him at the Oakland Coliseum with the caption “Miss it.”
The A’s continue to rank dead last in Major League Baseball in attendance, averaging 9,475 fans in their first season at Sutter Health Park. That means, on average, they’ve filled just under 70% of the ballpark’s 13,800 capacity. They’ve sold out seven of their 78 home games: opening night (an 18-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs), a three-game series against the Yankees in May, and a three-game series over July 4 weekend against the neighboring San Francisco Giants.
And despite their uptick in play — the A’s came into Thursday winners of 9 of 12 games and the sixth-best record in MLB since the All-Star break — they had more than 10,000 fans just three times in the second half of the season, with two coming against the Boston Red Sox on Sept. 8-9.
Bright spots in Kurtz, Langeliers
Kurtz has been one of the best hitters in baseball for the majority of his rookie campaign and is expected to be named American League Rookie of the Year. His ascension is a reason for optimism for the A’s heading into 2026.
Kurtz had arguably one of the best single games of all time against the Astros July 25 when he went 6-for-6 with four home runs, eight RBIs and six runs scored. After his three hits and two homers Thursday, he finished the season hitting .500 in 42 at-bats against Houston, with nine home runs in 10 games.
“It’s nice to know that a team you’re going to play four times a year that you’ve had success and you’ve seen a lot of their arms,” Kurtz said. “It’s nice going into the following years that it’ll be a lot of the same guys that I’ve seen and I know what to expect.”
The Astros jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the second inning while the top five hitters in the lineup each had an RBI. Valdez struck out 10 A’s while allowing one run on seven hits.
Langeliers got hits in his first three at-bats giving him hits in seven straight at-bats dating back to Wednesday. His streak was snapped with a seventh-inning strikeout, but he doubled in his ninth-inning at-bat, giving him his second-straight four-hit performance.
The A’s will finish off their season with three games against the Royals beginning Friday in what they’re calling “Fan Appreciation Weekend.”
On Friday, the team is giving away a crewneck seater with “Sacramento” script across the chest. Saturday will bring a “Rock Postgame Fireworks” show, and kids will be allowed to run the bases after Sunday’s season finale.
This story was originally published September 25, 2025 at 5:01 PM.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story inaccurately characterized an attendance figure for Thursday’s game.
