WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif (AP) — Nick Kurtz drew a walk for his 19th consecutive game and hit a two-run double, helping the Athletics defeat the Kansas City Royals 6-3 on Thursday.
Shea Langeliers added three doubles, while Darell Hernaiz had three hits and two RBIs. Jacob Wilson had two hits and scored twice to help the A’s to their sixth win in nine games.
Click to Gallery
Kansas City Royals pitcher John Schreiber throws to a Athletics batter during the seventh inning of a baseball game Thursday, April 30, 2026, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)
Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson throws to first base for the final out of the top of the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, Thursday, April 30, 2026, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)
Athletics' Nick Kurtz, right, smiles at first base coach Ryan Christenson (28) after being intentionally walked during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, Thursday, April 30, 2026, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)
Athletics pitcher Jack Perkins (50) celebrates with catcher Austin Wynns, left, after the final out of the ninth inning of a baseball game as the Athletics defeat the Kansas City Royals Thursday, April 30, 2026, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)
Athletics' Nick Kurtz gestures after hitting an RBI double during the second inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals Thursday, April 30, 2026, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)
Elias Diaz hit his first home run of the season for the Royals, and Maikel Garcia and Starling Marte had three hits apiece. Vinnie Pasquantino missed his second straight start because of lower back tightness but pinch hit in the ninth and hit a game-ending flyout with a man on against Jack Perkins, who got his third save.
Kurtz built a 4-2 lead when he lined a 1-0 slider from Noah Cameron (2-2) to right-center in a four-run second that put the A's ahead 5-2. Langeliers had an RBI double earlier in the inning, and Kurtz scored on shortstop Nick Loftin's throwing error.
Kurtz was walked by John Schreiber in the seventh. He tied Ted Williams for the third-longest streak behind Detroit’s Roy Cullenbine in 1947 and San Francisco's Barry Bonds in 2002-03. Records date to 1910 in the National League and 1913 in the American.
Luis Medina (1-1) allowed three hits in 2 2/3 scoreless innings in relief of starter Jeffrey Springs, who gave up two runs and five hits before leaving with right hip soreness after three innings and 67 pitches.
Cameron gave up five runs — four earned — and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Royals: LHP Cole Ragans (1-4, 5.00 ERA) starts Friday at Seattle, which sends RHP Bryan Wood (1-2, 3.86) to the mound.
Athletics: RHP J.T. Ginn (0-0, 3.24) starts Friday against visiting Cleveland and LHP Joey Cantillo (1-1, 2.97).
__
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
Kansas City Royals pitcher John Schreiber throws to a Athletics batter during the seventh inning of a baseball game Thursday, April 30, 2026, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)
Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson throws to first base for the final out of the top of the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, Thursday, April 30, 2026, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)
Athletics' Nick Kurtz, right, smiles at first base coach Ryan Christenson (28) after being intentionally walked during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, Thursday, April 30, 2026, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)
Athletics pitcher Jack Perkins (50) celebrates with catcher Austin Wynns, left, after the final out of the ninth inning of a baseball game as the Athletics defeat the Kansas City Royals Thursday, April 30, 2026, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)
Athletics' Nick Kurtz gestures after hitting an RBI double during the second inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals Thursday, April 30, 2026, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)
The billionaires in Saudi Arabia are pulling the plug on LIV Golf. It won’t be the first mega sports project they’ve given up on recently.
Over the last several weeks, the Saudis have bailed on a Winter Olympics-style sports festival and sold one of their best soccer teams, all while shifting the strategy of their multibillion-dollar investment fund that bankrolls it all.
The Saudi Public Investment Fund, helmed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, recently delivered a new prospectus outlining its strategy for 2026-30. The strategy focuses on more internal investment while “maximizing financial returns, strengthening investment efficiency and increasing private sector participation.”
The ultimate goal is to fulfill the prince's “Vision 2030,” which seeks to enhance and overhaul Saudi Arabia’s infrastructure and make tourism a more focal point of an oil-based economy.
It follows an era in which the fund poured staggering sums of money into various sports ventures around the world. Soccer has been a centerpiece — the country is hosting the 2034 World Cup, while PIF owns a majority stake in Newcastle of the Premier League and bolsters the Saudi Pro League. The fund has also spent big on men's and women's pro tennis, Formula 1, boxing and more.
LIV Golf, though not the most expensive, is the highest profile among them; the fund has reportedly poured some $5 billion into LIV without receiving any return.
“For the past two years, we've seen the beginning of the scaling back of some of the mega projects that were announced in 2021, 2022,” Kristian Ulrichsen, a Middle East expert at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy “That's exactly when LIV Golf began, as well.”
The PIF announced Thursday it would withdraw funding for LIV Golf after 2026, ending weeks of speculation and reporting that the Saudis were about to cut the cord. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the PIF governor who was behind the creation of LIV Golf, is no longer listed as chairman of LIV Golf amid reports he has resigned from that role.
Staff and players have been aware for the last two weeks the PIF was only going to support LIV Golf through the end of this year. LIV responded with a new board and a plan to diversify into an investment model with hopes of finding long-term partners.
The PIF's deep pockets were integral for LIV in prying some of the sport's best players from the PGA Tour. It spent $1 billion to land the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Cameron Smith and eventually Jon Rahm, the last big signing at the end of 2023.
In an interview earlier this week with The Wall Street Journal, PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said: “We’re interested in having the best players who can help our tour. Not every player can do that.”
Already, five-time major winner Koepka has moved back to the tour from LIV, and Masters champion Patrick Reed plans to return later this year.
About three months ago, Saudi Arabia scaled back plans for a futuristic super-city project called The Line inside a bigger project called “Neom” that was supposed to span more than 100 miles and run from the Red Sea across the desert mountains.
One feature of the project was a resort called Trojena, which was envisioned as a year-round ski resort that would host the 2029 Asian Winter Games (which themselves were moved instead to Kazakhstan). It could have served as a dress rehearsal for future Olympics or, at the very least, the 2034 World Cup that has already been awarded to the kingdom.
More recently, PIF sold 70% of its Saudi Pro League soccer club Al-Hilal to a company owned by Saudi royalty, a move that sent shock waves through that sport — namely raising questions as to whether the fund was still committed to Newcastle of the English Premier League, of which it owns about 85%.
"Whether due to the war or reasons related to economic feasibility, we continuously reassess our priorities,” Al-Rumayyan told the state-owned Al Arabiya news channel shortly after the Al-Hilal sale.
Mohammed Soliman, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, told The Associated Press “Saudi Arabia is constantly reassessing its priorities, and its investment strategy will shift accordingly."
“The PIF has always been a vehicle of national transformation first, global sports deals were part of that story, but so is pulling capital closer to home when the moment calls for it,” Soliman said.
There's a healthy debate over what impact the U.S. war in Iran is having on the Saudi decision-making.
Some of these decisions — such as the scaling back of the Neom project — were being made earlier in the year when a barrel of oil was selling for $60 — a lower price that can cause the country to endure budget deficits that might have to be financed by cutting into profits of Aramco, the country's national oil producer.
The war, meanwhile, raised oil prices to above $100 but reduced the Saudis' ability to sell it while Iran and the U.S. battle over control of the Strait of Hormuz, the key chokepoint through which up to 25% of the world's oil must pass.
“Ironically, the fact that the Saudis are still able to export maybe two-thirds of their oil at much higher prices over the last six weeks maybe actually means that their revenues may have gone up,” Ulrichsen said. “But this won’t be forever. The war has definitely heightened the element of uncertainty, and the closer it gets to 2030, the more they’ll want to deliver one or two key things, rather than maybe falling short on six or seven in general.”
The Saudis have made major inroads into sports other than golf and soccer.
They are in the last of a three-year contract to host a $15 million season-ending tournament on the Women's Tennis Association. The PIF has naming rights for both the WTA and the men's ATP tour.
Saudi Arabia has hosted the Dakar Rally and an F1 event came to the country in 2021. (It was cancelled this year because of the war.)
It has shown interest in hosting the Summer Olympics, maybe as soon as 2036.
All that pales in comparison to its biggest sports undertaking — hosting the World Cup in 2034. That project calls for building 10 or 11 new stadiums across the country, including one in Neom that is planned to hover a quarter-mile above ground.
All those stadiums and all that investment make LIV's $5 billion look small. Still, it hasn't gone unnoticed that the vision LIV began with — as a league that would create teams, then sell them to make the endeavor profitable — hasn't materialized.
“The expense is not on the scale of what they spent on The Line or the (Asian) winter games,” Ulrichsen said. “But it’s significant, and I don't think there's an appetite for the prospect of losses continuing for at least another five or 10 years.”
AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson contributed to this report.
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
FILE - Captain Bryson DeChambeau, of Crushers GC, waves to the fans at the 17th tee during the third round of LIV Golf South Africa at The Club at Steyn City, Saturday, March 21, 2026 in Midrand, South Africa. (Pedro Salado/LIV Golf via AP, File)
FILE - LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman, left, applauds Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, at the LIV Golf Invitational-Chicago tournament Sept. 18, 2022, in Sugar Hill, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)
FILE - A general view of the 18th hole flag pole during the first round of LIV Golf Jeddah at the Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, Friday, March 1, 2024 in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia. (Matthew Harris/LIV Golf via AP, File)
