Athletics sluggers of the past such as Reggie Jackson, Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco might be a tad jealous that they didn’t play at Las Vegas Ballpark, given the way the ball was flying out of the Triple-A stadium during the beginning of the A’s six-game series in Las Vegas.
While there likely won’t be many 11-home runs games when the A’s move to their ballpark on the Las Vegas Strip in 2028, the team showed their offensive firepower during its three-game set against the Milwaukee Brewers.
The A’s crushed 15 home runs while winning two of the three games with the Brewers, the first-place team in the National League Central Division, to pick up a series win to start their Las Vegas trip.
When the A’s welcome the Colorado Rockies for a three-game series beginning at 7:05 p.m. on Friday, Las Vegas Ballpark might as well be rebranded as “Coors Field West” for another series filled with home runs.
Regardless of the venue, the A’s gave their future city a show during the team’s first regular-season games played in Las Vegas since the franchise announced it was moving to Southern Nevada in two years.
“It’s really cool. It’s exciting to give the home fans a first-hand glimpse of hopefully what’s to come in 2028,” 2025 AL rookie of the year and A’s first baseman Nick Kurtz said this week.
“Hopefully we show them that we’re a young and up-and-coming team and we can get it done and win some ball games.”
‘Be in a good spot’
Kurtz has been one of the focal points of the young A’s (33-35) core that entered Thursday 2.5 games out of first place in the American League West. The A’s 6-foot-5, left-handed hitting slugger hit three home runs against the Brewers.
When asked what improvements he’s seen from Kurtz, manager Mark Kotsay yelled across the dugout to ask Kurtz as he walked off the field. Kurtz shrugged his shoulders, as an indication that he’s playing as well as he had last season.
“I agree,” Kotsay said.
Kurtz said on Monday some notable offseason goals were to hit left-handed pitchers better, steal more bases and play better defense.
“I feel like I’ve hit leftys a little bit better, I got seven stolen bases, so that’s pretty cool,” Kurtz said. “Making those adjustments is tough because you don’t want to make those adjustments and take away form things that you already do really well.
“I’m trying to battle that because if I have the same year as I did last year, we’re going to be in a good spot. So, I don’t need to change too much.”
‘Gaining confidence’
Kurtz was one of eight of the A’s in Wednesday’s lineup to hit home runs during the three games against Milwaukee.
In the 4-3 win against the Brewers, the A’s got an offensive boost from No. 9-hitter Alika Williams, who hit his first career home run, and outfielder Lawrence Butler, who has struggled with a .165 batting average through Wednesday.
“I’m feeling good, it’s just results are not there,” Butler said. “As long as I continue to go up there, have a good at-bats and hit the ball hard and all I can do is trust the process.”
Kotsay said before the series that he was looking for his team to find more consistent offensive production.
“The offensive is gaining confidence,” Kotsay said before Wednesday’s win. “That’s one thing (Las Vegas) Ballpark can do is bring some confidence to guys, which we know you got to have confidence to be able to hit.
“Hopefully, there’s a continuation of that the rest of the homestand and that this may be a week where we get jumpstarted and move the needle forward.”
The A’s also got three home runs from left fielder Tyler Soderstrom during the series. Third baseman Zack Gelof extended his hitting streak to 15 games and center fielder Henry Bolte hit his first career home run on Monday.
With a young core, the A’s believe they can reach another level as they try to make a postseason run.
“Up to this point, we feel like we’ve done OK and we haven’t really hit on all cylinders yet and put our best foot forward and played our best baseball,” A’s catcher Shea Langeliers said pregame Wednesday. “We’ve grinded through it. It’s a long season and you’ll have your ups and downs.
“We’ve come together as group and putting our best forward every day and keep going for it.”
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
Up next
Who: Athletics (33-35) vs. Colorado Rockies
When: Friday-Sunday
Where: Las Vegas Ballpark
TV: NBC Sports California
Probable starters
Friday: COL TBD vs. ATH LHP Gage Jump (2-1, 2.45 ERA), 7:05 p.m.
Saturday: COL TBD vs. ATH LHP Jeffrey Springs (3-6, 4.68 ERA), 7:05 p.m.
Sunday: COL TBD vs. ATH RHP J.T. Ginn (4-3, 3.15 ERA), 12:05 p.m.
