Nick Kurtz And Latest Incarnation Of A's Savors Lopsided Shutout Win At Yankee Stadium

Forbes

4 hours ago

The Athletics celebrate Nick Kurtz' (16) three run home run during the sixth inning of a baseball ... More game against the New York Yankees, Saturday, June 28, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
The Philadelphia A's earned their first road win over the Yankees on May 6, 1903 at Upper Manhattan's Hilltop Park when Eddie Plank pitched a six-hitter and also had three hits.
The Kansas City A's earned their first road win over the Yankees on May 15, 1955 at Yankee Stadium when Billy Wilson hit a three-run homer off Eddie Lopat and was among three pitchers in the starting lineup not to appear for the Yankees either before or after that game.
The Oakland A's earned their first victory over the Yankees in New York in their first try when future Yankee World Series Star Reggie Jackson homered and Ramon Webster drove in three runs in their 6-3 win on April 15, 1968 against a Yankee lineup with Mickey Mantle in his final season and future managers Dick Howser, Gene Michael and Mike Ferraro in the lineup.
In 2028, the A's hope to play their first game in Yankee Stadium as the Las Vegas incarnation of a franchise that should still be in Oakland. The A's hope to be in Las Vegas by then since they recently broke ground for a new stadium seating about 33,000 fans, the lowest capacity in baseball.
In the meantime, these A's where home games are played at Triple-A stadium in West Sacramento will savior their first road win over the Yankees, like they did on Saturday on after rolling to a 7-0 win.
There was a toast to honor the player of the game with the Chicago Bulls introduction song of Alan Parsons, 'Sirius' blasting in the clubhouse as manager Mark Kotsay spoke about JP Sears and Nick Kurtz on the big stage of Yankee Stadium.
Sears was the first to star, pitching 5 2/3 innings and finally getting a win over the Yankees, to jokingly show them why can't they get guys like that? The answer is because the Yankees felt good about acquiring Frankie Montas only to find out he was injured and Montas has since moved on to the Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers and New York Mets.
In that time since Montas left the A's at the 2022 trade deadline, Sears has thrown 487 2/3 innings and won 25 times in 91 career appearances.
Not all of those were successful, as evidenced by the 35 runs Sears allowed in his previous 36 innings. Opposing close friend Clarke Schmidt, Sears found an effective array of pitches in his 16th career scoreless start and second against the Yankees, who could not score against him on April 22, 2024 – the same day Hunter Wendelstedt ejected Aaron Boone for a comment made by a fan.
'Obviously, you know some of those [Yankees],' Sears said. 'I'm good friends with Clarke Schmidt. He has had such a great season so far. It's always fun to face your friends. Every win in the big leagues is big.'
And the wins are bigger when it is the Yankees and continued a process when Sears is learning to become a pitcher and not a thrower and was involved in the A's most lopsided shutout win over the Yankees since June 30, 2007 when Chad Gaudin and Rich Harden combined on a one-hitter and Scott Proctor lit his uniform on fire in the dugout at the old Yankee Stadium.
'I think he's learning how to pitch. I think that the velo is down from when we first acquired him. The fastball that he dominated with the first year in 23 and 24, he's made some adjustments, and I think that's going to be successful,' Sears said. 'I think he's learned that the sinker can play here, the changeup in the lane can keep guys (off balance).
'Up until this point the starts and the amount of home runs, he's given up was an indicator that the pitches weren't going where they should be. He wasn't executing his pitches, and I think we saw an executed game today from him.'
While Sears is among the young pitchers, the big attraction was Kurtz's 12th homer and 11th in a span of 22 games, a stretch that saw him hit a pair of game-ending homers against the Astros, who recently moved past the Yankees in the race to avoid the wild-card round.
It is part of the streakiness of young players. Kurtz notched a hit in his first 13 games at Triple-A and then endured a 5-for-27 slide before getting the call to join the A's.
Kurtz homered less than a year after being picked fourth overall out of Wake Forest and also did so about 16 years after his father watched the Phillies in the World Series against the Yankees.
'I am playing at Yankee Stadium. I grew up a Phillies fan,' Kurtz said. 'It's just a surreal moment.'
About the only thing Kurtz did not want discuss was anything he remembers as a six-year-old watching the Phillies lose to the Yankees in a six-game World Series, a year after beating the Tampa Bay Rays for their first title since 1980.
'For what he's accomplished so far for the short time he's been in the leagues and today was his 12th or 13th homer, that's pretty special for someone that didn't start with us,' Kotsay said. 'To come up (in) May and June and display that type of power. When he hits the baseball, he impacts (it)."