A's lose 9-6 as Rangers score four in the ninth

A’s lose 9-6 as Rangers score four in the ninth

A’s ninth collapse flipped a 6-5 lead into a 9-6 loss after Texas scored four in the final inning. Nick Kurtz’s three-run double was not enough.

by
Mark Hebert
April 16, 2026

The Athletics were three outs away. Then the ninth inning unraveled.

The A’s took a one-run lead into the final frame Thursday, but the Rangers answered with four runs and handed them a 9-6 loss at Sutter Health Park. That spoiled a late rally from the Athletics, who had erased a two-run deficit in the eighth on Nick Kurtz’s three-run double before the bullpen gave it right back.

It was a rough finish for the A’s, who let two late leads slip and missed a chance to close the series on a win. Instead, a game they had flipped in the eighth turned again before they could get to the last out.

Lopez kept it close

Jacob Lopez gave the Athletics a chance.

The left-hander worked five innings and allowed two runs on three hits. He walked four and struck out five. Texas scratched across a run in the third on Brandon Nimmo’s RBI single, then added another in the fifth on Jake Burger’s sacrifice fly.

That was enough to keep the game within reach while the A’s worked through Jack Leiter.

Leiter scattered seven hits over 5 2/3 innings, but the Athletics finally broke through in the fifth. Shea Langeliers walked, Tyler Soderstrom doubled, and Jacob Wilson lined a two-run single to right to tie the game. Then Carlos Cortes followed with an RBI single to give the A’s a 3-2 lead, though he was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double.

For a moment, the game had turned.

Texas answered, then Kurtz answered back

The Rangers did not stay quiet.

Luis Medina gave up the tying run in the sixth when Josh Smith doubled home Joc Pederson. Then Scott Barlow surrendered a two-run homer to Josh Jung in the seventh, and suddenly the Athletics were behind 5-3.

Still, they had one more push.

Lawrence Butler singled to start the eighth, Austin Wynns reached on a fielder’s choice, and Jeff McNeil doubled to put two runners in scoring position. Texas then intentionally walked Langeliers, and Kurtz made them pay. He drove a bases-clearing double to left, scoring all three runners and putting the Athletics back in front, 6-5.

That should have been the winning swing.

The ninth changed everything

Instead, the lead disappeared almost immediately.

Jake Burger and Jung opened the ninth with singles against Justin Sterner. Then Kyle Higashioka reached on a fielder’s choice, and Sterner’s throwing error allowed the tying run to score while moving Jung to third. Joc Pederson followed with a go-ahead single to center. After that, Ezequiel Duran added a two-run single, and the Rangers had control for good.

Sterner was charged with four runs, three earned, in the ninth and took the loss.

Numbers that mattered

Kurtz finished 2-for-4 with a walk and three RBIs. Wilson went 2-for-5 with two RBIs. Langeliers reached base five times, going 2-for-2 with three walks and two runs scored.

The Athletics out-hit Texas 13-10, but they stranded 10 runners and could not hold the lead late.

In the end, that was the story. The A’s did enough to come back. They just could not finish it.

pic.twitter.com/s98FyIWtk6

— Athletics (@Athletics) April 16, 2026

Up next

The Athletics open a home series against the White Sox on Friday at Sutter Health Park. First pitch is set for 6:40 p.m. PT.

Aaron Civale is scheduled to start for the A’s against Chicago right-hander Davis Martin. Civale enters at 2-0 with a 1.72 ERA, while Martin is 2-1 with a 2.50 ERA.