WEST SACRAMENTO -- Nick Kurtz and Shea Langeliers have emerged as anchors for this potent Athletics lineup, and Wednesday saw both young sluggers reach some impressive career milestones.
First was Langeliers, who got the scoring started for the A’s in a 5-4 walk-off win over the Red Sox at Sutter Health Park with a first-inning solo shot off Boston starter Payton Tolle. One inning later, Kurtz clobbered a fastball over the middle from Tolle for a solo blast to left. Each was their 30th home run of the season and carried its own historical significance.
“Those are two top-of-the-order guys,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “For both Shea and Kurtz, this is an incredible run. It’s an incredible year for both of them.”
Langeliers, the reigning American League Player of the Month, joined Terry Steinbach (35 in 1996) as the only catchers in A’s history to reach 30 homers in a single season with at least 50% of games played at catcher.
“It’s really cool to be in the conversation with Steinbach,” Langeliers said. “It goes back to preparation and just staying consistent to, ultimately, me having a good season this year.”
There might not be a better all-around catcher in baseball outside of Seattle's Cal Raleigh. Among AL catchers, Langeliers ranks second in homers, doubles (27), slugging percentage (.536), and OPS (.850).
“For Shea to get to 30, it’s a pretty great accomplishment, especially for a backbone,” Kotsay said. “There’s only one other [catcher] in the game, I think, with more homers right now, and that’s Raleigh.”
Kurtz, meanwhile, joined the legendary Bash Brothers -- Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco -- as the third A’s rookie to post a 30-plus homer season.
With Wednesday marking his 102nd Major League game, Kurtz is the seventh fastest active player in MLB to reach the 30-homer plateau, one game ahead of Royce Lewis and two games behind Fernando Tatis Jr.
Here is the full list, per Elias:
Game No. | Player | Date Reached
87 | Cody Bellinger | 08/02/2017
89 | Pete Alonso | 07/07/2019
90 | Gary Sánchez | 06/11/2017
96 | Yordan Alvarez | 04/08/2021
97 | Aaron Judge | 6/24/2017
100 | Fernando Tatis Jr. | 08/09/2020
102 | Nick Kurtz | 09/10/2025
103 | Royce Lewis | 08/04/2024
“For Kurtz, as a rookie, he continues to show things that we really haven’t seen in a long time,” Kotsay said. “It’s pretty special.”
Like he’s done so often, Kurtz went the opposite way for a homer that sailed a Statcast-projected 357 feet to left. For the season, Kurtz now has 24 non-pulled home runs, third-most among all Major League hitters. The two hitters ahead of the 22-year-old first baseman? Aaron Judge (32) and Shohei Ohtani (26).
“I mean, you see it every day like I do,” A’s outfielder Lawrence Butler said of Kurtz. “He’s special. The kid goes out there and just has good at-bat after good at-bat every day. Him hitting 30 homers, for us, is no surprise. He’s probably going to do it every year for the rest of his career.”
Langeliers and Kurtz played key roles in helping the A’s avoid a sweep.
Leading off the bottom of the ninth against Boston closer Aroldis Chapman in a tie game, Langeliers smacked a double into the right-center-field gap, which snapped a streak of 50 consecutive batters faced by Chapman without allowing a hit. Two batters later, Butler battled to a 1-2 count against the All-Star lefty before turning a 100.2 mph fastball the other way for a game-winning single to left that scored Langeliers for Chapman’s first run allowed since July 23.
“I just really didn’t want to strike out there, so I was looking for anything in the zone or close to the zone to put it in play,” Butler said. “It felt good. I feel like I’ve failed in that situation a lot this year. To have success right there, especially against a great pitcher like he is, it felt really amazing.”