When the Atlanta Braves intentionally walked Miguel Andujar to get to Athletics left-hander Tyler Soderstrom in the 11th inning on Thursday night, they got the matchup they wanted with southpaw Aaron Bummer on the mound.
And Soderstrom made them pay.
The 23-year-old collected his fourth RBI of the night on a walk-off single, scoring Brent Rooker from second base and sending the crowd at Sutter Health Park home happy with a 5-4 win and series victory over Atlanta.
The walk-off hit was the first of Soderstrom’s young MLB career — a surreal moment for the former first baseman-turned-left fielder who has made major strides at the plate this season. His hero moment in extras came after he hit his 16th homer of the 2025 MLB season in the first inning with a three-run shot to right center field, and the 2020 first-round draft pick is now slashing .370/.414/.704 over his last seven games.
As part of the A’s young-and-upcoming homegrown core, Soderstrom reflected on playing and growing alongside teammates like Lawrence Butler, whom he rose through the team’s farm system with.
“It’s super fun,” Soderstrom told Chris Townsend and Steve Sax on “A’s Cast” after the win. “I’ve played with some of these guys like [Butler] since Low-A, so it’s cool to be up here in the big leagues, sharing these experiences with them. Getting my first walk-off hit tonight was super special. Something I always dreamed of, for sure.”
After A’s starting pitcher Mitch Spence surrendered five home runs to the Braves and was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas following Wednesday night’s 9-2 loss, JP Sears took the mound for Thursday’s rubber match and allowed three earned runs across five innings while striking out six and walking none.
Another member of the A’s young core, first baseman Nick Kurtz, took the MLB rookie home run lead with his 15th blast of the season — a solo shot in the eighth that tied the game 4-4 and ultimately allowed the Green and Gold to go to extras with Atlanta.
It was just one of several clutch moments Kurtz has delivered for the A’s this season, and the team certainly hopes there’s more to come from the first baseman and the rest of the roster as the season’s halfway point nears.
“It’s a great feeling, especially with All-Star break coming up, to kind of grind through that one — come up early, then lose the lead and then be able to come back late was awesome,” Kurtz told Townsend and Sax. “Sodey had a great game, came up huge when we needed him. So it’s great team win. …
“[The front office] has done a great job drafting guys, and it’s kind of cool, because a lot of those guys who were drafted came up together, know each other really well and are best friends. Then me joining and coming into the fold made it really easy to just kind of go along with the group. And it’s been really fun.”
As the A’s approach their final series before the MLB All-Star break with the Toronto Blue Jays coming to town, the youthful group, now 39-56, will look to carry some momentum into the second half and continue building upon what they’ve accomplished so far together.
“We’re always trying to win these games, trying to stay hot and have some momentum going into the All-Star break and ready to roll for the second half,” Soderstrom told Townsend and Sax. “So just continue to learn and just get better. …
“We feel like one through nine, you see the lineup, all the young guys in there for the last couple of weeks. So we’re all really confident in each other. We’ve played together for a while now. So one through nine, we can get it done.”
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