Bolte bops pair of homers in coming-out party as A's thump Rangers

ARLINGTON – The Athletics knew there was big-time power in Henry Bolte’s bat from the day he signed his contract as their 2022 second-round Draft pick, then proceeded to bash several balls out of the Coliseum while taking batting practice with the Major League team shortly after.

So far in his big league career, however, Bolte’s power had only shown up sporadically, with six home runs through his first 96 games. That makes his performance on Wednesday a coming-out party of sorts.

Bolte stepped to the plate against Rangers starter Cody Bradford in the third inning and tied the game up by launching a Statcast-projected 404-foot, two-run shot to right-center. One inning later, the rookie outfielder went the opposite way again, lining a two-run homer to right field.

“This kid has done a great job for us since he’s been called up,” manager Mark Kotsay said of Bolte. “He’s continuing to get better and make improvements. Getting the ball in the air today to the opposite side, if he can do that [consistently], there’s a lot of great things ahead of him.”

It was the first career multihomer game for Bolte, who reached base in five of six plate appearances, highlighting an overall impressive offensive showing by the A’s on an afternoon in which they slugged five homers en route to a 9-2 victory over the Rangers at Globe Life Field.

Bolte’s second homer was where you really got a sense for the type of thump he can produce. He was clearly late on a 3-2 fastball up and away from Bradford, almost appearing as if he was taking an emergency swing just to fight it off. Instead, the 23-year-old muscled it up and watched it clear the right-field wall just to the left of the foul pole at a Statcast-projected 349 feet.

“I was just trying to put the bat on the ball,” Bolte said. “I honestly thought I fouled it off, so I didn’t get out of the box right away. I thought it was up in the stands. … I was fortunate enough to keep it fair.”

We’ve seen plenty of the tools possessed by Bolte, who is coming off a hot month of August in which he hit .310 with 19 runs scored, and led all Major League rookies with 35 hits. He is tied for fastest player in baseball in terms of sprint speed, and he has provided stellar defense both in center and right field, where he figures to get most of his playing time over this final month following Denzel Clarke’s return from injury. But the power? Bolte might just be starting to flex that tool in his bag.

“I think [the power] has kind of been a progression for me since I’ve been up here,” Bolte said. “It’s great to see those adjustments lead to that happening in the games. That has kind of been the way adjusting to new levels for me in the past has gone, where maybe it’s a little bit more contact, then as I settle in, I get to who I am as a hitter. It’s just an evolving thing while I get more at-bats."

Bolte wasn’t the only young A’s player to shine in Wednesday’s series finale. On the pitching side, Jacob Lopez set the tone by limiting Texas to two runs on six hits and two walks with seven strikeouts across six innings, continuing what has been a strong run since the All-Star break.

Over his last nine starts, Lopez now carries a 2.36 ERA with 60 strikeouts and 18 walks in 49 2/3 innings. On Wednesday, his slider was perhaps as sharp as it has ever been. Despite surrendering a leadoff home run to Ezequiel Duran on it, Lopez went on to generate nine whiffs on his slider, utilizing it as the putaway pitch on all seven of his strikeouts.

“I kind of got beat early right out the gates,” Lopez said. “I just had to choose to mentally get through it strong and go six innings. The bats won us today. They did a great job taking some pressure off me.”

Avoiding a sweep in Texas, the A’s will now head to Seattle for four games against the Mariners, another squad desperate for wins as it looks to remain in the playoff hunt.

“This week is important for [the Rangers and Mariners],” Kotsay said. “They’ll be really competitive games. There’s a lot to gain for our young guys by going through it.”