{"id":143189,"date":"2025-09-14T11:22:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T11:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/143189\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T11:22:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T11:22:10","slug":"nick-kurtz-hits-stunning-grand-slam-and-longest-mlb-home-run-in-more-than-two-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/143189\/","title":{"rendered":"Nick Kurtz hits stunning grand slam and longest MLB home run in more than two years"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n When Athletics rookie Nick Kurtz<\/a> stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning on Saturday, he was in an uncharacteristic slump and 0-4 for the game. The bases were loaded and the A\u2019s had a slender two-run lead over the Cincinnati Reds <\/a>when Kurtz took his swing, crushing a 91.9mph fastball out to center field.\n <\/p>\n

\n The ball left his bat at 114.6 mph (184.4 km\/h) and sailed 493 feet for the longest home run in Major League Baseball since Shohei Ohtani hit one the same distance more than two years ago, a stunning grand slam that sealed an 11-5 victory for the A\u2019s.\n <\/p>\n

\n The list of records goes on. It was the longest grand slam and longest A\u2019s homer since Statcast began tracking data in 2015 as well as the joint third-longest homer by a rookie under Statcast, behind only two from a certain Aaron Judge.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI really can\u2019t speak any more about Nick,\u201d A\u2019s manager Mark Kotsay told reporters after the game. \u201cI don\u2019t know if there\u2019s words that can describe that at-bat.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Nick<\/p>\n

\n It was yet another impressive landmark for the 22-year-old slugger who has hit 31 homers so far this year and became the first MLB rookie ever<\/a> to hit four home runs in a single game earlier this season.\n <\/p>\n

\n Already, Kotsay is comparing the way Kurtz strikes a baseball to the way that Hall of Famers Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco did, albeit \u201cin a different era,\u201d Kotsay added, chuckling.\n <\/p>\n

\n Such power comes from the explosive force Kurtz is able to leverage from his 6-foot-5 height, Kotsay added, per MLB.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cOnce he hits the baseball, makes contact, it\u2019s almost like he comes off the ground,\u201d Kotsay said. \u201cI think that\u2019s what really has given Nick the power that he has.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Elsewhere, the Milwaukee Brewers<\/a> became the first team to secure their playoff spot after the New York Mets were defeated 3-2 by the Texas Rangers, meaning that the Brewers were guaranteed at least a National League wild card.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Brewers celebrated in typical fashion, overcoming a five-run deficit to defeat the St. Louis Cardinals 9-8 in 10 innings before enjoying a champagne toast.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Facebook Tweet Email Link When Athletics rookie Nick Kurtz stepped up to the plate in the bottom of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143190,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-143189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}