ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The Athletics got off to a fast start against the Texas Rangers on Friday night, hitting three solo home runs in the first inning.
Nick Kurtz, Carlos Cortes and Tyler Soderstrom — three of the first four hitters — homered just seven pitches into the game.
Kurtz launched Nathan Eovaldi's first pitch over the right-field wall. Cortes sent another shot to right, and Tyler Soderstrom homered on the first pitch he saw to straight-away center.
The last time the Athletics homered three times in the first inning was against the Atlanta Braves on July 8, all against Didier Fuentes.
Eovaldi had no trouble with the Athletics' batting order when he faced them on April 13 in California, shutting them out over seven innings on three hits in an 8-1 Rangers victory. He entered with a career ERA against the A's of 2.54, his lowest against any opponent he faced at least six times.
In Eovaldi's previous start, he allowed four runs, two earned, in five innings at Seattle.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.