Las Vegas A’s Henry Bolte rounds the bases after hitting a two run home run in the bottom of the second inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin, NV on Tue Jun 9, 2026 (AP News photo)

By Lincoln Juarez

SUMMERLIN, NV – The Las Vegas A’s won their first regular season game in Las Vegas since 1996 backed by the long ball as all seven of their runs came thanks to the home run. J.T. Ginn recorded his fourth win of the season at Las Vegas Ballpark in front of 8,422.

Boots were on the ground at the site of the A’s future home on the Las Vegas strip Tuesday morning prior to game two of the Brewers and Athletics about 17 miles west in Downtown Summerlin. Athletics manager Mark Kotsay was part of a group of A’s personnel that toured the $2-plus billion construction site. “You know, the ballpark in totality is there now. You can really see the future of an incredible stadium that fans are going to completely have the opportunity to be as close as they’ve ever been…but also being able to have an incredible view from everywhere in the building” Kotsay said, describing his perspective of the progress. The A’s 33,000 seat stadium won’t be complete and ready for use until the 2028 season and while the excitement builds the organization continues to give fans in Southern Nevada a preview of their young, eye-catching talent.

The Athletics opened up their Las Vegas Series homestand Monday night in the first of a three game set with the Milwaukee Brewers in what was an offensive showcase with 29 total runs, 34 total hits including 11 home runs. Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin sits just past 3,000 feet above sea level making for a hitter’s dream ballpark and it showed Monday night. It was the fifth game in A’s history where they hit seven or more home runs.

Acknowledging the elements that played a role in Monday’s 15-14 slugfest, Mark Kotsay said, “The biggest thing you don’t want to do in a hitter’s park is give away free bases and you also don’t want to make outs on the bases. Every chance you get to get an extra at-bat in a ballpark where it seems to be favoring the offense, those are things that can help lead to wins on both sides”. In the first inning it wasn’t a free base that Athletics’ starter J.T. Ginn (3-3, 2.74 ERA) allowed, but a leadoff single by Christian Yelich to pick up right where these teams left off the previous night. Five pitches later, Jackson Chourio hit a line drive to right field that the warm, windy Southern Nevada sky carried over the fence for a 2-0 Brewer lead.

Brewers’ starter Robert Gasser, who was making just his 11th big-league start, got the same nuclear welcome to Las Vegas his fellow starter Kyle Harrison did 24 hours before. Nick Kurtz, fresh off a two-homer game Monday, blasted his 15th home run of the season over the Milwaukee bullpen to put the A’s within one.

The big fly stayed contagious Tuesday night and found Henry Bolte for his first big-league home run. Bolte’s blast scored two to put the A’s ahead 3-2 after two full. Every run scored before the fourth inning came via the long ball and at the rate these teams were mashing, the baseball fans in Las Vegas who saw the first two games of the week might be disappointed when the A’s move into their climate-controlled stadium on the strip.

J.T. Ginn’s outing looked promising after setting down eight Brewers in a row from the end of the first to the top of the fourth, and only allowing one run from the second through the fifth inning. Sal Frelick tied the game for Milwaukee with an RBI-single in the visiting fourth, the first run of the game driven in by a hit, not a home run.

It took the A’s until the bottom of the fifth to respond with yes, you guessed it, two more home runs to regain the lead. Tyler Soderstrom with a two-run blast and Jonah Heim with his second homer in as many days to make it 6-3 Athletics. The next inning, Zack Gelof joined the party and homered to center field for the final A’s run of the night, all via the long ball.

With the offensive explosion Monday night and another home run fest Tuesday, it was easy to forget about the pitching. Ginn finally ran into trouble in the sixth inning where the Brewers forced two runs across and the right-hander out of the game. However, Ginn picked up the win, his fourth of the season with a line of 5.2 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 5 K.

Seven runs were all the A’s needed for their first regular season win in Las Vegas since April 7, 1996 when they beat the Detroit Tigers 7-6 at Cashman Field. The 8,422 in attendance celebrated the green and gold with much anticipation for the day they get to celebrate an A’s win 17 miles east on the Las Vegas strip in 2028.

The rubber match of the three game set is Wednesday evening at Las Vegas Ballpark with first pitch scheduled for 6:05pm. A starter has not been named for the Brewers to face RHP Jack Perkins (2-3, 6.19 ERA) for the A’s.