MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Milwaukee Brewers believe their aggressiveness on the basepaths is part of their identity.
Never was it more apparent than on Sunday.
Milwaukee stole nine bases in a 14-1 victory over the Athletics to break the team's 33-year-old record for steals in a game.
All of them came in the first four innings. Six were swiped in the first, the first time in the expansion era a team stole that many bases in an inning.
“That's the game we play,” said Brice Turang, who had three of the steals to increase his season total to eight. “So we've just got to keep playing it.”
According to Elias Sports Bureau, no team had stolen as many as six bases in one inning since the expansion era started in 1961. A team has stolen five bases in an inning 13 times since 1961, most recently by Cincinnati against Colorado on April 19, 2016.
Sportradar said the Brewers were the first team to steal six bases in an inning since Aug. 26, 1919, when the New York Giants had six steals in the third inning of the first game of a doubleheader against Pittsburgh.
“Anything that could have gone wrong, I felt like (it) did,” said Athletics starter Jeffrey Springs, who left the game in the third inning with a sore right hamstring.
The Brewers broke their franchise game record in the fourth inning when Caleb Durbin got his first career stolen base, two days after his major league debut. The Brewers had stolen eight bases in a 7-2 victory over the Toronto on Aug. 29, 1992.
Durbin was initially called out at second, but a video review determined he was safe. Durbin scored to extend Milwaukee's lead to 8-0.
No Brewer got caught stealing until the fifth, when Shea Langeliers threw Sal Frelick out at second with Milwaukee leading 8-1.
Frelick finished the day with two steals to increase his season total to seven. Christian Yelich, William Contreras, Rhys Hoskins and Caleb Durbin stole one base each.
Milwaukee's six first-inning steals included a pair of double steals. The Brewers scored four runs in that first inning by capitalizing on two hits, three walks, the six steals, a balk from Springs and two throwing errors by Langeliers.
“This club, they run,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said. “They took advantage of some slow times to the plate with Springs today. They read his leg kick realy well. They ran on every high leg kick. For Lang, he just gets rushed and tries to kind of overcompensate for that and let a couple of throws get away from him."
On the first double steal, Langeliers’ throw to third went into left field, enabling Turang to score and Yelich to reach third. Contreras and Hoskins executed the second double-steal of the inning. Frelick walked later in the first inning and took off for second as Langeliers’ throw went into center. That error allowed Hoskins to score from third, though Frelick tried advancing to third on the play and got thrown out by center fielder JJ Bleday.
Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said it's no surprise that the Brewers' speed coaxed the Athletics into mistakes.
“I think it rattles any team,” Murphy said. “It could rattle us. If teams were doing it to us, we'd feel the same way. Our young guys like to run and are excited about playing that type of game.”
Milwaukee's nine steals increased its season total to an MLB-leading 33 through 22 games. The Brewers have been caught just five times.
Last year, the Brewers won their second straight NL Central title while stealing 217 bases, second in the majors behind Washington's 223. Before last season, no major league team had stolen as many as 217 bases in a year since Montreal's 228 in 1993.
Milwaukee's speed continued making an impact Sunday well after the first inning.
In the second inning, Turang drew a two-out walk and swiped second for his third steal of the day. Turang took off for third again, but Jackson Chourio swung on the pitch and hit an RBI double to right.
Frelick stole second in the third inning. Then Durbin delivered the record-breaking steal in the fourth.
“You kind of fall into a rhythm sometimes,” Frelick said. “You get a couple of stolen bases nd you're like, ‘Maybe the catcher’s thinking about it, and I'll keep running until somebody gets thrown out.'”
This story corrects that Athletics starter Jeffrey Springs left the game in the third inning.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Milwaukee Brewers' Caleb Durbin (21) steals second base as the Athletics' Jacob Wilson applies the late tag during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Milwaukee Brewers' Brice Turang, right, steals second base as the Athletics' Luis Urias applies the late tag during the second inning of a baseball game, Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.
In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.
Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.
“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.
If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.
For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.
“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.
Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.
"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.
Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.
Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.
Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.
The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.
“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.
As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.
What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.
The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.
One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.
Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.
“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.
The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.
Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.
“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.
Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.
“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
