Sunday, June 22

Hello! Welcome to another edition of the A’s Beat newsletter.

WEST SACRAMENTO -- Before Nick Kurtz made history on Thursday by crushing his second walk-off home run in four days, Jacob Lopez was shaping up to be the story of the night for the Athletics.
 
Staked to an early lead, Lopez delivered yet another impressive outing in a 6-4 win over the Astros at Sutter Health Park. The rookie left-hander limited Houston, which one night prior racked up 11 runs and 20 hits against the A’s, to one run on four hits and three walks with nine strikeouts across six innings. Over his last three starts, Lopez has allowed just one earned run with six walks and 23 strikeouts across 16 innings.
 
Thursday’s outing was the most impressive of the bunch. Not just because it came against the first-place Astros, but for the way Lopez ended it. Pitching himself into a bases-loaded jam in the sixth, Lopez appeared to be on the ropes with a pitch count that was approaching 100 and reliever J.T. Ginn warming in the bullpen.
 
This is normally a spot where manager Mark Kotsay would pull an inexperienced starter such as Lopez, who was making just his eighth Major League start. This time, however, Kotsay decided it was an opportunity to test Lopez’s mettle. Lopez responded with back-to-back strikeouts of Victor Caratini and Mauricio Dubón to end his outing, unleashing a roar as he walked off the mound.

“It was his game,” Kotsay said. “He had a lot of momentum. He was just handling the lineup really well. To give him that opportunity to go through the sixth, as a young starter, you’ve got to earn that. He earned it with this performance. To walk off that mound with that feeling, it’s got to build some confidence.”
 
Through four starts in June, Lopez’s 32 strikeouts for the month entering Friday were second-most among all Major League pitchers for the month, trailing only Boston’s Garrett Crochet (36).
 
Unlike Crochet, whose fastball flirts with triple digits, Lopez only averages 90.6 mph with his heater according to Baseball Savant. So, how has he been able to rack up all these strikeouts?
 
Lopez makes up for that lesser velocity in a few different ways. For one, he has a good grasp of a five-pitch mix -- four-seam, slider, cutter, changeup, sinker. He also fires his pitches from a funky cross-body arm slot and ranks in the 97th percentile with a 7.1-foot extension, which creates deception and makes that 90 mph or so fastball look more like a mid-90s offering.

“He’s not the hardest thrower in the world, but that extension helps,” A’s pitching coach Scott Emerson said of Lopez. “The changeup makes the fastball look a little bit harder. Then the command of the strike zone, he can come in, go away, go up, go down. … He’s tunneling his pitches in the right opportunities. Count advantage and first-pitch strikes and overall pounding the strike zone have helped him these last few games.”
 
Lopez added: “I only throw low-90s or whatever people want to say, but I have five pitches that I like to mix in. I think that’s a huge part of pitching. I’m just keeping hitters off-balance and trying to be smart.”
 
Acquired from the Rays along with Jeffrey Springs this offseason, Lopez seems to be finding himself as a big leaguer with the A’s. He’s lowered his season ERA from 7.20 to 4.25 on the strength of his last three starts, taking advantage of his opportunity in an A’s starting rotation that is still looking to sort out its final two spots this season.
 
“He’s a dog, bro,” A’s catcher Willie MacIver said of Lopez following Thursday’s outing. “He’s a dog on the mound. His changeup was working. It was really good. Probably the best I’ve seen his changeup. When he’s got his changeup, his slider is already top-tier good, so the dude is tough to hit.
 
“The way he’s been working his bullpens and taking care of business has been awesome. I’m so happy for him and the way he’s been shoving out there. … Lopez is doing a great job.”

Before Monday’s series opener between the A’s and Guardians at Sutter Health Park, Guardians manager Stephen Vogt reflected on his time spent here as a Minor Leaguer. Vogt played for the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats in 2013, 2014 and 2019.
 
“I had three tours as a River Cat,” Vogt said. “I love this place. It’s one of my favorite Triple-A cities and one of my favorite Triple-A ballparks. The Triple-A memories I have here are just phenomenal. … It’s fun to relive the Triple-A memories I have here.”

• Kurtz graduated from his “prospect” status with about as dramatic of a swing as possible on Thursday night. More>>

• Kurtz has been swinging a hot bat all week, going on a tear that may soon vault him up the AL Rookie of the Year conversations. More >>

To subscribe to Athletics Beat, visit this page and mark "Athletics Beat" from our newsletter list. Make sure you're following the Athletics or that they're checked as your favorite team.

View Online

© 2025 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. MLB trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball. Visit MLB.com. Any other marks used herein are trademarks of their respective owners.

Please review our Privacy Policy.

You (mlb-newsletters@mlb.com) received this message because you registered to receive commercial email messages or purchased a ticket from MLB. 

Please add info@marketing.mlbemail.com to your address book to ensure our messages reach your inbox. If you no longer wish to receive commercial email messages from MLB.com, please unsubscribe or log in and manage your email subscriptions.

Postal Address: MLB.com, c/o MLB Advanced Media, L.P., 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.