Rookies Colby Thomas and Nick Kurtz each had a homer, three hits and three RBIs to help the Athletics roll to a 10-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night in West Sacramento, Calif.
Shea Langeliers also homered among his two hits as the Athletics defeated the Angels for the first time in eight meetings this season. Brent Rooker added two hits for the A’s, who finished with 14 overall.
Zach Neto clubbed a two-run homer for the Angels, who were coming off an impressive three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Yoan Moncada had two hits for the visitors.
Jack Perkins (2-2) struck out seven in five innings for the Athletics. He gave up three runs, five hits and three walks.
Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi (6-8) allowed four runs and five hits over four innings. He struck out three and walked three.
The score was tied at 1 entering the bottom of the third when Rooker doubled and Kurtz singled to put runners on the corners with no outs.
Thomas jumped on a first-pitch curveball from Kikuchi and hammered it 433 feet over the wall in left to give the Athletics a 4-1 lead.
Bryce Teodosio walked to start the Los Angeles fifth before Neto came up and cranked a 2-1 cutter from Perkins 434 feet to left to bring the Angels within a run.
The homer was Neto’s 20th to give him his second straight 20-homer, 20-steal campaign. He is just the fourth player in Angels history with multiple 20-20 seasons, joining former league MVPs Don Baylor, Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani.
The Athletics got the runs back in the bottom of the fifth inning. Kurtz doubled and Thomas singled before Darell Hernaiz hit a sacrifice fly to score Kurtz.
Later in the inning, Tyler Soderstrom narrowly beat out an infield single as Thomas scored from third to give the Athletics a 6-3 lead.
In the eighth, the Athletics’ Brett Harris singled and was bunted to second before Langeliers hit an RBI single to left. Rooker followed with a single before Kurtz hit a three-run homer to left-center to make it a seven-run margin.
Kurtz ended a 15-game homerless stretch dating back to his four-homer game against the Houston Astros on July 25.
Langeliers batted leadoff for the A’s, and he smacked the fourth pitch he saw in the first inning over the wall in center.
The Angels knotted the score in the second on an RBI double by Travis d’Arnaud.
–Field Level Media
