A's Kurtz becomes first rookie with 4-HR game

HOUSTON -- Nick Kurtz of the Athletics became the first rookie in MLB history to hit four home runs in a game, doing so in a 15-3 victory over the Houston Astros on Friday night.

The slugger became the 20th player with four home runs in a game -- and the first for the Athletics. The Diamondbacks' Eugenio Suarez hit four against the Braves in April.

Kurtz went deep in the second, sixth, eighth and ninth innings. He also singled and doubled for 19 total bases on a 6-for-6 night, becoming the second player to have four homers and six hits in a game. The other was Shawn Green of the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 23, 2002, in Milwaukee.

Kurtz, 23, drove in eight runs and scored six.

The 6-foot-5 slugger has 23 homers in 66 games this season. The fourth pick in last year's amateur draft out of Wake Forest, he made his major league debut April 23 and hit his first homer May 13.

On Friday, Kurtz homered off each of the Astros' four pitchers: Ryan Gusto, Nick Hernandez, Kaleb Ort and Cooper Hummel. His longest drive was his third, a 414-foot solo shot off Ort in the eighth.

For his fourth homer, Kurtz hit an opposite-field line drive against Hummel, an outfielder for Houston pitching because of the one-sided score, to the Crawford boxes in left field. The three-run shot made it 15-2.

Kurtz extended his hitting streak to 12 games, and his 23 home runs are the most for an A's rookie since Yoenis Céspedes in 2012 and fourth most in franchise history.

Kurtz entered Friday as a -325 favorite at ESPN BET to win American League Rookie of the Year. His odds moved to -2500 after Friday night.

Information from ESPN Research and The Associated Press was used in this report.