HOUSTON — If he had not done it already, A’s rookie Nick Kurtz put an entire league on notice Friday night at Daikin Park.
Kurtz became the 20th man in Major League Baseball history to hit four home runs in a game and the first rookie to accomplish the feat. He finished 6-for-6 with 19 total bases and eight RBIs, spearheading a 15-3 shellacking of the Houston Astros.
Kurtz is the first player in baseball history to finish a game with at least six hits, six runs and eight RBIs. His 19 total bases matched a record set by Shawn Green on May 23, 2002.
Selected fourth overall during last July’s draft, Kurtz raised his season slash line to .305/.374/.686 across his first 271 major-league plate appearances. Since Kurtz made his debut on April 23, only New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge has a higher OPS than his 1.060 mark.
Nick Kurtz.
Four home runs.
Historic. pic.twitter.com/7oqrgdi23v— MLB (@MLB) July 26, 2025
On Friday, in just his 66th major-league game, Kurtz played perhaps one of the best games in the sport’s history. He collected three hits off Astros starter Ryan Gusto — a fellow rookie — including an opposite-field home run in the second inning.
Kurtz homered in his final two at-bats. He ambushed a first-pitch, four-seam fastball from Houston reliever Kaleb Ort in the eighth inning. A frame later, facing position player Cooper Hummel, Kurtz poked a 77.6 mph offering into the Crawford Boxes in left field, sending his dugout into delirium and a half-empty ballpark into a state of shock.
A’s rookie Nick Kurtz greets his parents and godparents after the game of his life. It was the first time his godparents had seen him play a big league game. His parents flew in today to attend. pic.twitter.com/7FSVUbj8XW
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) July 26, 2025
This story will be updated.
(Photo: Troy Taormina / Imagn Images)