LAS VEGAS -- The Athletics have quickly come to learn that the ball flies at Las Vegas Ballpark unlike anywhere else they’ve played, and their built-to-slug lineup is responding with a power display for the ages.
One night after mashing seven home runs in the opener of the Las Vegas Series, the A’s bounced back from a wild extra-inning loss by bashing another five homers in Tuesday night’s 7-5 victory over the Brewers.
With a total of 12 home runs through the first two of six games they will play at Las Vegas Ballpark, the A’s tied the franchise record for most homers over a two-game span. Before Tuesday, the last time the A’s homered 12 times over two games was nearly three decades ago, from June 25-27, 1996.
Nick Kurtz and Tyler Soderstrom, both of whom notched two-homer games on Monday, each slugged homers for an encore. Kurtz’s solo shot in the first was his 15th of the year and the reigning AL Rookie of the Year’s fourth over the last three days. Soderstrom’s two-run blast in the fifth, meanwhile, was his 11th of the season and third in the last two days.
“It’s really a battle of who can string together big innings and get more zeros,” Kurtz said. “That’s the name of the game this week. You put the ball in the air, there’s a good chance it could go. The pitchers have a really hard job this week, so as an offense, we have to pick them up. We’ve done a good job of that the last two days.”
Jonah Heim and Zack Gelof also went deep for the second straight night, both contributing solo homers.
Joining the power party for the first time this week, and in his career, was Henry Bolte. The A’s No. 5 prospect pulverized a 1-1 changeup low in the zone from Brewers starter Robert Gasser, sending his first Major League home run well beyond the pool in right-center and nearly out of the stadium entirely for a two-run laser.
“That was awesome,” Kurtz said of Bolte’s dinger. “Super happy for him. He’s put together great at-bats since he’s been up, so it was really fun to see him connect on one. That was a real one, too.”
Called up to the big leagues on May 12, Bolte took note of this impending series at the ballpark he called home while playing for Triple-A Las Vegas and joked with teammates that his first homer would happen in Las Vegas. It turns out that premonition was right all along.
“A little bit of a relief,” Bolte said. “It was awesome. A moment I’ve dreamed of, for sure. It’s kind of funny. I was joking that it was maybe bound to happen in this ballpark. … Nonetheless, it was a great moment.”
Offense is certainly in the spotlight for this week of games in Southern Nevada. Still, to come out on top, you need some form of solid pitching.
All three A’s pitchers provided that on Tuesday, starting with J.T. Ginn, who entered carrying a 1.49 ERA over his last six starts. Considering the pitching elements, limiting the damage against the Brewers to five runs across 5 2/3 innings like he did is an outing Ginn will gladly take.
“You want to keep doing the same things that you’ve been doing when you’ve been having success, but the reality of the situation is that it is a different ballpark in a different environment,” Ginn said. “So, there are some adjustments to be made with how the ball moves here and stuff like that. We had a good gameplan going into it and I felt like I executed it. The box score, giving up five runs looks like a lot, but I feel like I did my job out there today.”
The A’s bullpen must also be credited for keeping this a rather ho-hum game compared to Monday’s 12-inning extravaganza. In relief of Ginn, Elvis Alvarado and Mason Barnett, the only two relievers who were not used the night before, combined for a perfect 3 1/3 innings with eight strikeouts.
“Elvis was electric tonight,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “He threw the ball probably as good as he’s thrown it with us in the year-plus that he’s been here. Barney was the freshest arm down there. We went with the fresh arms tonight out of the bullpen and they stepped up and got it done.”