Major League Baseball (MLB) latest news as Nick Kurtz has become the first rookie and the 20th player in the league’s history to hit four home runs in a single game
08:24 ET, 26 Jul 2025Updated 08:24 ET, 26 Jul 2025
Nick Kurtz reacts after hitting his fourth home run of the game in the ninth inning against the Houston Astros(Image: 2025 Getty Images)
Nick Kurtz has struck himself in elite company as he became the first rookie in MLB history to hit four home runs in a single game.
The Oakland Athletics first baseman also went on to match the league’s record with 19 total bases in the 15-3 triumph over the Astros in Houston on Friday. He didn’t make an out all night, going deep in the second, sixth and ninth innings, as he also doubled and singled his 6-for-6 to equal Shaun Green’s performance for the Los Angeles Dodgers at Milwaukee in May 2002.
It was the 20th first-homer game in Major League history and the second of the season so far after Arizona’s Eugenio Suarez achieved the feat against Atlanta on April 26. No player is yet to hit five.
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He is now the youngest player with a four-homer game in MLB. Beating Pat Seerey of the Chicago White Sox who was just 25-years-old when he did his some 77 years ago on July 18, 1948.
Kurtz also made baseball history becoming the first player ever to finish a game with at least six hits, six runs and eight RBIs, with ESPN’s Jeff Passan saying in a post on X, “There’s a genuine argument it is the best game ever.”
Athletics manager Mark Kotsay agreed, saying after the game: “It’s arguably the best game I’ve ever watched from a single player. This kid continues to have jaw-dropping moments.”
Plus, when it comes to the most extra-base hits in a player’s first 66 career games over the last 125 seasons, Kurtz finds himself second (43) to Joe DiMaggio (48), and ahead of Ted Williams (42), Bob Meusel (42), Yordan Alvarez (41) and Ryan Braun (41).
Nick Kurtz hitting a home run in the sixth inning(Image: 2025 Getty Images)
“It’s hard to think about this day being kind of real, it still feels like a dream,” the 22-year-old said in a post-game interview. “So it’s pretty remarkable, I’m kind of speechless. Don’t really know what to say.
“This is the first time my godparents have been here, so they probably have to come in the rest of the year. My parents flew in today, they’ve been here a bunch, but it was cool to have some family here for that.
“With a positional player on the mound, I’m just trying to move the ball forward. You don’t want to be the guy that strikes out.
“That’s only my second at bat ever off a positional player, so I don’t know. Just trying to move the ball forward and get something that I can touch, and I hit another one.”
The 6ft 5in star brings his home run total to 23 in just 66 games this season. As the fourth pick in last year’s amateur draft out of Wake Forest, he has skyrocketed to superstardom ever since making his MLB debut against the Rangers on April 23, leading to his first home run against the Dodgers on May 13.