MILWAUKEE (AP) — Rhys Hoskins went 3 for 5 with a homer, four RBIs and one of Milwaukee's franchise-record nine steals and Logan Henderson recorded nine strikeouts in his major league debut as the Brewers trounced the Athletics 14-1 on Sunday.
Brice Turang scored three runs and stole three bases to help the Brewers win the rubber match of this series. Christian Yelich also scored three runs. Sal Frelick was 3 for 4 with two steals.
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Milwaukee Brewers' Jackson Chourio reacts after his double against the Athletics during the second inning of a baseball game, Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Milwaukee Brewers' Jackson Chourio hits a double against the Athletics during the second inning of a baseball game, Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers takes the late throw as the Milwaukee Brewers' Christian Yelich, behind, scores during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Milwaukee Brewers' Christian Yelich reacts after he scored during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Athletics, Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Logan Henderson reacts after striking out the Athletics' Tyler Soderstrom during the sixth inning of a baseball game, Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Milwaukee Brewers' Rhys Hoskins receives high-fives in the dugout after his home run against the Athletics during the third inning of a baseball game, Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
The Brewers finished a 4-2 homestand before beginning a season-long, 10-game road trip.
Milwaukee stole six bases in the first inning, the most by any team in a single inning since at least 1961 according to Elias Sports Bureau. The Brewers had all nine of their steals in the first four innings to shatter the team's 33-year-old single-game record.
Henderson (1-0) allowed just three hits and one run in six innings. The lone run he allowed came on Seth Brown's homer in the fifth.
Tyler Alexander pitched three innings of shutout relief for his first career save.
Athletics starter Jeffrey Springs (3-2) left in the fourth inning with soreness in his right hamstring.
The Brewers set the tone for the rest of the game by executing two double steals in the first inning. On the first one, Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers' throw to third went all the way to left field, enabling Turang to score and Yelich to reach third. Langeliers had two throwing errors on stolen-base attempts in the first inning.
This is the third straight season that a team has stolen nine bases in a game. Boston did it in a 9-3 win over the New York Yankees last year and the Cincinnati Reds accomplished the feat in a 10-8 loss to Milwaukee in 2023.
The Athletics start a three-game series at home Tuesday against the Texas Rangers. Starting pitchers are right-hander Osvaldo Bido (2-1, 2.61 ERA) for the Athletics and left-hander Patrick Corbin (1-0, 3.86) for the Rangers.
The Brewers begin a four-game series at San Francisco. Right-hander Quinn Priester (1-0, 0.90 ERA) starts for the Brewers and left-hander Robbie Ray (3-0, 4.19) pitches for the Giants in Monday's opener.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Milwaukee Brewers' Jackson Chourio reacts after his double against the Athletics during the second inning of a baseball game, Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Milwaukee Brewers' Jackson Chourio hits a double against the Athletics during the second inning of a baseball game, Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers takes the late throw as the Milwaukee Brewers' Christian Yelich, behind, scores during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Milwaukee Brewers' Christian Yelich reacts after he scored during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Athletics, Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Logan Henderson reacts after striking out the Athletics' Tyler Soderstrom during the sixth inning of a baseball game, Sunday, April 20, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Milwaukee Brewers' Rhys Hoskins receives high-fives in the dugout after his home run against the Athletics during the third 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)
