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- The A’s lost 4-2 Wednesday after the Red Sox scored two in the 10th inning.
- Catcher Jonah Heim had three hits, including a home run for his 500th career hit.
- Jacob Lopez struck out a season-high eight and pitched 5 1/3 innings.
Athletics fans had plenty to cheer for in Wednesday’s extra-inning nail-biter against the Boston Red Sox.
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Catcher Jonah Heim had three hits, including the 500th of his MLB career — an estimated 418-foot home run that gave the A’s a 1-0 lead early on.
Lawrence Butler hit his first home run since June 19 and nearly hit another in a lefty-lefty matchup off elite closer Aroldis Chapman in the ninth.
Starter Jacob Lopez struck out a season-high eight batters in a resurgent 5 1/3-inning start.
Lopez and multiple bullpen arms got out of tough jams to limit the Red Sox 16 baserunners across the first nine innings to just two runs, only one earned.
But, on Wednesday, that wasn’t enough.
Jacob Wilson and Jeff McNeil both struck out with Butler, representing the winning runner, on third in the bottom of the ninth inning. Red Sox shortstop Andruw Monasterio made the A’s pay for their missed opportunity by homering in the 10th inning off reliever Jose Suarez to give the Red Sox a 4-2 lead they would hold on to.
The loss dropped the A’s to 45-63 and 10 games out of both the American League West lead and the final AL Wild Card spot, while giving the red-hot Red Sox (56-51) no worse than a split of the four-game series ahead of Thursday’s finale.
To make matters worse, All-Star first baseman Nick Kurtz exited the game with a left forearm contusion after he was hit by a pitch in the first inning. Kurtz will get an MRI on his forearm Thursday to get a clearer picture of the injury, A’s manager Mark Kotsay said.
“That was a tough loss,” Butler said postgame.
A’s strike out 14 times
Butler’s first home run in over a month was not a quiet one, projected at more than 103 mph off the bat and 422 feet by MLB.com.
However, the usually upbeat outfielder appeared down after Wednesday’s loss, especially when asked if he thought his ninth-inning double off Chapman was a home run off the bat. Butler confirmed postgame that he thought the 385-foot shot was a home run after he notably appeared to watch the ball fly for a second before realizing it was in play and hustling out a double.
“It would have been better if we went out and we won the game,” Butler said of his double. “That would have really boosted my confidence.”
The extra-base hits followed a pinch-hit double in Tuesday’s win, showing a spark in what has been a rough season for Butler overall. In 100 games and more than 300 plate appearances, Butler is hitting .204 with a .626 on-base plus slugging percentage, a step down from his solid 2025 campaign and his breakout 2024.
“Lawrence the last couple days has really stepped up and, you know, helped this club in more ways than just on the field,” Kotsay said. “The game tonight that he had is an example of him getting an opportunity against a tough lefty and taking some good quality at-bats.”
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While Heim and Butler performed well, the rest of the A’s struggled mightily against Red Sox starter Patrick Sandoval, who fanned seven in five innings, and a stellar Boston bullpen effort that surrendered no runs in five innings.
Wilson’s one-out strikeout in the bottom of the ninth in an at-bat that could have scored the winning run with a fly ball or grounder up the middle was an especially costly mistake, though not an isolated one, as the A’s struck out 14 times total.
“Obviously, he’s trying. He wants to be a guy to win the game for us,” Kotsay said of Wilson’s strikeout. “It’s good to be competitive, but we also need to win these games too.”
Third baseman Tommy White, who had two four-hit games in his first 10 MLB appearances including one Tuesday, and star outfielder Tyler Soderstrom each struck out four times throughout the game, while Carlos Cortes struck out in both of his at-bats after entering the game as a pinch hitter in the sixth inning.
Lopez has best start of season
In what has been a tough season for Lopez that at one point saw him get sent down to Triple-A after surrendering seven runs in two innings in May, the 28-year-old lefty put together what was likely his best start of the season against one of the league’s hottest teams Wednesday.
Coming into the game, Lopez held a 6.12 ERA and had consistently allowed rallies to form when he got to the third time through the order.
But on Wednesday, Lopez escaped a fourth-inning jam where he surrendered three singles thanks to a clutch double play and struck out the Red Sox No. 2-4 hitters in a row on the third time through the order after surrendering his lone run in the fifth inning — a Jahmai Jones home run.
“Jacob did a good job tonight,” Kotsay said. “He took us into the sixth inning again, which is a good sign for these young starters.”
While Lopez noted his pitch sequencing and slider-fastball combo as strengths of his outing, he said he is hoping to limit his pitch count early on in future appearances to avoid putting as much stress on the bullpen.
“Being able to get into the sixth was good,” Lopez said. “But I want to kind of clean that up and just be able to get through the sixth inning one time.”
Mason Barnett will toe the rubber for the A’s series finale at 6:40 p.m. Thursday.
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This story was originally published July 29, 2026 at 11:36 PM.