The field of the Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin NV hosts the Milwaukee Brewers and the Las Vegas A’s on Mon Jun 9, 2026 (AP News photo)

By Lincoln Juarez

SUMMERLIN, NV – The Milwaukee Brewers topped the Las Vegas A’s 15-14 in 12 innings in an offensive clash to open up the three game series. Tyler Soderstrom and Nick Kurtz both hit two home runs with a combined seven RBI and still came up short after multiple comebacks.

For the first time since 1996, regular season baseball was played in Las Vegas, Nevada. The classic white “Athletics” scripted jersey giveaway filled Las Vegas Ballpark for game one of six and the start of a monumental week for the Athletics and their move to the desert.

The Athletics put on a Las Vegas show for the 8,519 attendees with a military flyover at the conclusion of the National Anthem and the legendary UFC host, Bruce Buffer announcing the A’s starting lineup in true Vegas fashion. Through the green and gold smoke that filled the air, the Athletics took the field on a beautiful 87 degree desert night.

Jeffrey Springs (3-6, 4.37 ERA) coming off a no-decision in his last outing at Wrigley Field, struggled to get out of the first inning after recording two outs through his first three batters faced. The Brewers scratched a two-out run across courtesy of Jake Bauers driving in Jackson Chourio with an RBI-single to left.

Shea Langeliers answered right back for the A’s, sending a towering shot over the left-center field scoreboard to tie the game on the first pitch the A’s saw. This would be the subtle foreshadowing of the night to come. It was Langeliers’ 17th home run of the season, tying him for sixth most across MLB, and only the fifth home run given up by Brewers’ starter Kyle Harrison. Harrison has been stellar for the Brew Crew since being acquired via trade from the Boston Red Sox prior to the 2026 season with a 7-1 record and 1.57 ERA through 11 starts before Monday night.

The long-ball struggles continued for Harrison on an uncharacteristic night, only making it through 2.1 innings while allowing three home runs and eight runs to cross the plate. The A’s six-run third inning gave Jeffrey Springs a comfortable 8-4 lead, however he was only able to last two more innings.

Springs had struggles of his own, giving up three more runs in the visiting half of the third including two big-flies off the bats of Brice Turang (10) and Andrew Vaughn (2). Milwaukee clawed one more across in the fifth which wound up as Springs’ final inning of the night. He finished with a final line of 5.0 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 3 K.

The home run derby continued for the swingin’ A’s in the home sixth with Nick Kurtz rounding the bases to make it 9-5 Athletics on his 13th homer of the season.

The scoring lasted all night as the two lineups dueled it out like the main event of a UFC Fight Night on the Strip. Milwaukee wouldn’t go away en route to a ninth inning comeback to tie the game at 10, officially making it the highest scoring regular season game the A’s have played in Vegas. The Brewers drove in two in the seventh on Jake Bauers’ 12th home run of the year, one in the eighth on a wild pitch, and two in the ninth on Andrew Vaughn’s ninth double of the season.

The A’s were held scoreless in the home ninth and the Brewers kept the scoring going in the 10th, taking a 14-10 lead on a Jackson Chourio sac-fly and William Contreras three-run homer to deaden the Las Vegas crowd.

With two out in the home 10th the green and gold brought three across, including Nick Kurtz’ second homer of the night, to make it a one-run game. Still down to their final out, pinch-hitter Jonah Heim fisted a ball out to right field that received a groan from the home crowd thinking the night was over. Brewers’ right fielder Blake Perkins ran out of room at the wall and the game was tied yet again.

The most dominant inning on the mound came in the top of the 11th as left-hander Jose Suarez took the rubber for the A’s and struck out the side in order giving the A’s a chance to win it the next half.

Flame-throwing Abner Uribe shut down the A’s in the home half, sending the game to the 12th inning where defensive replacement Jeff McNeil’s throw couldn’t beat Christian Yelich to the plate. Milwaukee had another extra inning lead and this time they were able to hold on. Right-hander Chad Patrick got the save for the Brewers’ fourth consecutive win in an absolute offensive thriller to open up the Las Vegas Series.

A combined 29 runs on 34 hits set the record for most combined hits and runs in a game this season. Each club used seven pitchers across 12 innings in the longest game of the pitch-clock era at four hours and 14 minutes which also set the record for most ABS challenges in a single game at 16 total. Fans got just about everything they could’ve asked for in game one of the Las Vegas series, except an A’s win. However, this will go down as one of the most absurd, memorable games of the 2026 season that gave fans in Southern Nevada plenty of reason to return to the ballpark the rest of the week.

Game two in Las Vegas is set for 7:05pm Tuesday night.

Starting pitchers for Milwaukee LHP Robert Gasser (0-2 ERA 4.73) for Las Vegas RHP JT Ginn (3-3 ERA 2.74)