Athletics rookie Nick Kurtz delivers an RBI single in his MLB debut against the Rangers

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Rookie Nick Kurtz needed just one plate appearance for his first major league hit and RBI.

Kurtz singled up the middle on a 1-2 pitch from Kumar Rocker in the first inning Wednesday night, scoring Shea Langeliers from second base and giving the Athletics a 3-0 lead against Texas. His dad was caught on camera waving the runner home.

It was quite a debut for the fourth overall pick in last year's amateur draft. Kurtz also awkwardly tripped over the mound while trying to catch a popup but stayed in the game.

He batted seventh and played first base in his MLB debut. He finished 1 for 4 at the plate with a strikeout in a 5-2 victory.

The former Wake Forest standout's deal included a $7 million bonus. The A’s promoted him ahead of Wednesday's game.

Kurtz became the third player from the 2024 draft to debut after Houston outfielder Cam Smith and Los Angeles Angels right-hander Ryan Johnson made opening-day rosters. Smith was the 14th overall pick and Johnson 74th.

Kurtz started last year at Class A Stockton and was promoted to Double-A Midland. He hit .321 with seven homers, 24 RBIs and 10 walks in 20 games this season for Triple-A Las Vegas.

Kurtz’s 2024 season was cut short by a hamstring injury; he played 13 games in the Arizona Fall League.

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Athletics Nick Kurtz (16) get his first career major league hit against the Texas Rangers during the first inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)

Athletics Nick Kurtz (16) celebrates his first career major league hit against the Texas Rangers during the first inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)

Athletics Nick Kurtz (16) celebrates his first career major league hit against the Texas Rangers during the first inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)

Athletics Nick Kurtz runs to first for his first career major league hit against the Texas Rangers during the first inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)

Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz waits for the pitch against the Texas Rangers during the first inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)

Athletics Nick Kurtz (16) celebrates his first career major league hit against the Texas Rangers during the first inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Rob Sand rallied a crowd for the first time as the official Democratic nominee for Iowa governor on Sunday, kicking off a countdown to November with the support of Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.

The race for governor between Sand and Republican Zach Lahn stands to be one of the most competitive in the country as Iowans face a state budget deficit, struggling agricultural economy and cancer crisis. Democrats are putting faith in him to blaze a trail in the state after struggling electorally in recent cycles, hoping his message of unity will resonate with their fellow Iowans.

A few hundred people in Des Moines roared, waved campaign signs and snapped photos as Sand took the stage, a state flag hanging behind him.

“You might think we have a big hill to climb. I've seen bigger,” Sand said. “We're building a coalition of — not red versus blue — but of the well-fed versus the fed-up.”

Sand, who was unopposed on the primary ballot, learned who his opponent would be after Tuesday’s primary settled an unpredictable five-way Republican contest.

The rally was the first one that Tracy Schloss has ever attended. A lifelong Democrat, Schloss said he doesn't like the state's direction after nearly a decade of total Republican control, saying the leaders have “lost sight of the common people.”

“It's time, you gotta step up or the country will still keep going the way it's going," said the 62-year-old retiree from Ankeny, a suburb of Des Moines.

Schloss said he thinks Sand is a “bright spot" who can get voters excited, and he's more optimistic than he's been in recent years that the election will be a success for Democrats.

Iowa has open races for both governor and U.S. senator for the first time since 1968, plus three battleground congressional races. National attention on the state has soared in recent months, drawing President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance to Iowa.

Democrats still have a 200,000-person deficit in statewide voter registration, and they are outnumbered in every House district. Sand, along with Senate candidate Josh Turek, say they can win over independents and Republicans who are frustrated with party politics and a Republican trifecta in Washington and Des Moines that they blame for the state's challenges.

Turek will face U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, who already has portrayed Turek as a liberal puppet for party leader Sen. Chuck Schumer.

Lahn has also rejected Sand's nonpartisan pitch.

“Rob Sand is not a moderate,” Lahn said in his victory speech Tuesday. “He’s a liberal career politician pretending to be someone he’s not.”

As he has during campaign events over the past year, Sand asked attendees to sing the first verse of “America the Beautiful.” And when he introduced himself, he talked about his upbringing hunting, fishing and going to church.

Even if Sand is elected governor in November, he will likely have to work with Republican majorities in the state House and Senate, which recently passed bills to restrict the executive’s power that outgoing Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law.

Sand said it's good to have balance rather than a political system centered around amassing power and punishing political enemies.

“We have found ourselves in this position because we have too many people who want us to only think about red or blue,” Sand said Sunday. “Red and blue are colors.”

Neither Sand nor Lahn use their party's traditional blue or red in campaign materials, opting instead for green. They both say they aren’t beholden to their party establishments and that Iowans want a new direction, though Lahn’s Republican Party has held a statehouse trifecta for nearly a decade.

Little known before his bid for governor, Lahn made a splash as a business owner criticizing farm consolidation and tax breaks for corporate giants, a regenerative farmer who subscribes to Robert F. Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement and a former political operative who galvanized Iowa’s conservative grassroots.

Sand’s campaign has given about $750,000 to the Iowa Democratic Party already this cycle, funding that Republicans call hypocritical for a candidate who claims he is not a party man. The Sand campaign says that sum reflects his investment in a state party-run coordinated campaign that will help him get elected as governor, even as it also supports candidates up and down the ballot.

“Rob Sand loves to talk about rising above the ‘two-party system’ — right up until it’s time to campaign, cash checks, and share the stage with Democrat Party insiders," Iowa Republican spokeswoman Jade Cichy said in a statement Sunday.

Beshear, chair of the Democratic Governors Association and a potential presidential candidate in 2028, told a cheering crowd Sunday that he's “all in” for electing Sand.

As Democrats continue to debate what went wrong in 2024 and the direction of the party, Beshear has offered up his own example as the leader of a red state for lessons on how the party can go forward.

“I am living, breathing proof that Democrats can win anywhere, and we should be fighting everywhere,” Beshear told the crowd Sunday.

In addition to rallying with Sand, Beshear also attended a “Beers with Beshear” fundraiser for congressional candidate Sarah Trone Garriott, who wants to unseat Republican Rep. Zach Nunn in the competitive House district that includes Des Moines. Beshear told The Associated Press that he would see Turek, too.

The Democratic Governors Association, which Beshear chairs, gave the Iowa Democratic Party about $140,000 so far this cycle, according to filing reports.

Iowa democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand speaks to media after voting on primary Election Day, Tuesday, June 2, 2026, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Bryon Houlgrave)