Tyler Soderstrom Exits Tuesday's Game Early vs. Royals

In the bottom of the fifth inning of the game between the Athletics and Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night, Tyler Soderstrom dove for a ball ranging toward the line in left. He missed the ball, which went to the wall behind him, and Maikel Garcia ended up on third with a triple.

In the top of the sixth inning, it was American League Player of the Week Carlos Cortes who was in left field, as Soderstrom had been removed from the game.

Following the game, A's manager Mark Kotsay said that when Soderstrom came off the field following the diving attempt, he wasn't feeling great, so they removed him as a precaution.

"There's no signs of a concussion right now, but obviously that dive, if you watch it, he slammed down pretty hard, fully extended. We'll have more tomorrow."

Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino also exited the game with lower back tightness in the bottom of the sixth inning after his at-bat in the top half. He led off the the inning by grounding out to second base, but he was in visible pain on his follow-through swing, nearly going to a knee in the process.

Carlos Cortes stays hot

Cortes began receiving regular playing time when DH Brent Rooker landed on the injured list on April 10, and with those consistent at-bats, he hit .373/.407/.706 and produced a 201 wRC+, which ranked 10th in MLB in that span. While Nick Kurtz has been a solid bat in the A's lineup in recent weeks, Cortes has been just a touch better.

On Tuesday with left-hander Kris Bubic on the mound, the A's decided to start Colby Thomas in right field, which confused plenty of A's fans on social media. Cortes earned his first plate appearance in the bottom of the sixth, and he was promptly hit by the first pitch he saw from Bubic.

Cortes would be back up in a key spot in the bottom of the eighth inning with one out and a runner on first, and would smash a single into right that would push Thomas to third, giving the green and gold runners at the corners with one out. The A's would load the bases in the inning, but would come away empty yet again, leaving the game tied, 1-1.

The game would go to extras, where Kansas City's Bobby Witt Jr. would launch a three-run homer in the top of the 10th, and with two down and a runner on, Cortes drew a walk to bring the game-tying run to the plate in Zack Gelof, who tapped the ball in front of home for an infield hit against his former teammate Lucas Erceg to load the bases.

Darell Hernaiz hit a soft liner to the glove of second baseman Michael Massey. The A's ended up dropping the first game, 4-1, while the Royals extended their win streak to four games.

The series continues with Michael Wacha (2-1, 2.51 ERA) taking on Luis Severino (1-2, 5.17 ERA) on Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. PT.

Add us as a preferred source on Google