Nick

Kurtz

Kurtz homered in the sixth and 10th innings before the A’s eventually fell in 12. The walk was an intentional pass in the final inning of the contest. Kurtz now has 14 homers and is tied for third in the majors with 48 RBI. He’s first with a .434 OBP ahead of Yordan Alvarez at .427 and Shohei Ohtani at .417.

Kurtz is up to 12 homers and seven steals to go along with a .276 average and a .923 OPS. His walk rate has exploded in his sophomore campaign, fueling the highest OBP in MLB so far this season. The absence of a high homer total is the only complaint fantasy managers might have, but opposing arms have seemingly decided to pitch around him any chance they get. Kurtz and the Athletics will return to hitter-friendly Sacramento for a 13-game homestand beginning Monday.

Kurtz has now played in half as many games this year (59) as he did as a rookie (117). He’s less than one-third of the way to last year’s home run total of 36, but his .289 and .290 batting averages are a match, and he leads the majors with a .440 OBP. Last year, he finished at .383.

Kurtz had a pair of soft singles in his first three at-bats and then launched a 410-foot homer his last time up. He has 10 homers this season, and he’s tied for ninth in MLB with 40 RBI. He’s first with a .432 OBP ahead of Yordan Alvarez at .419 and Mike Trout at .412.

Kurtz did make a throwing error that made all four of the runs Luis Severino allowed prior to leaving with an injury unearned. The 23-year-old swatted a solo shot off Carlos Rodón in the bottom of the first, and it was the only run Rodón would allow. Kurtz has more than made up for his first couple of weeks being not up to snuff, and he’s up to nine homers and an OPS of .900 over the first two months.

Kurtz was responsible for 40 percent of the hits Saturday night for the A’s, but it wasn’t enough to keep the club from being shutout. The 23-year-old has bounced back nicely from his rough start to the season with a very respectable — respectable is probably an understatement — .286/.444/.489 slash.

Kurtz has homered in three straight games after going 15 in a row without one. Tonight’s was a 417-footer off Tyler Mahle. Since debuting last April, Kurtz has 44 homers, 115 RBI, 118 runs scored and 103 walks in 160 games. He’s fanned 210 times, too, but that doesn’t seem like much of a concern at this point.

The slam off Matthew Liberatore was Kurtz’s third in 15 career at-bats with the bases loaded. It was also his first homer in 63 plate appearances against lefties this season. He’s previously gone 7-for-43 with two RBI in his 12 games in which the opposition started a lefty. Fortunately, he’s done plenty of damage against righties along the way, and he’s currently sporting a .267/.418/.453 line for the year.

It took Kurtz just two pitches in the game to extend his on-base streak to 33 games, knocking a double off Shane Baz and coming around to score on a base hit. He drew a walk and scored in the third, then doubled and scored again in the fifth. The 23-year-old slugger is now just three games behind Nick Swisher’s 36 for the longest single-season on-base streak since 2000. He still has a way to go to reach Mark McGwire’s team record of 62 set in 1996.

Kurtz capped off a three-run rally in the fifth inning with a two-run triple off of Kyle Bradish that gave the Athletics a 3-1 lead they would never surrender. Kurtz also singled in the ballgame. He has disappointed a bit relative to his massive expectations, but he’s still slashing a healthy .259/.415/.422 with five homers, 20 RBI and four stolen bases through his first 171 plate appearances on the season.