Chicago Cubs at Athletics

· Major League Baseball

Chicago Cubs

3-4, 3-2 Away

Final
18 - 3

Athletics

2-3, 0-1 Home

Kelly hits for cycle and Cubs power past Athletics 18-3 in 1st MLB game at Sutter Health Park

Busch connected in the first inning and Dansby Swanson followed with a homer on a blustery night when the wind carried balls over the fence just as Cubs manager Craig Counsell predicted. Indeed, there were plenty of offensive fireworks in the first major league game at Sutter Health Park in California’s capital region.

With 21 hits, the Cubs amply backed right-hander Ben Brown (1-1), who struck out five in five innings for his second career win. They scored their most runs since an 18-8 victory at Pittsburgh last Aug. 26.

The 18 runs allowed by the A’s were the most by any team in a home opener in 100 years, according to Sportradar. The Browns allowed 21 to the Indians in 1925.

A's shortstop Jacob Wilson hit his first career homer leading off the third in front of a sellout crowd of 12,119.

The Cubs jumped on A’s righty Joey Estes (0-1), and Swanson homered for the second straight game.

Key moment All the A’s players wore No. 24 to honor late Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, who died Dec. 20 five days before his 66th birthday. A 24-second moment of silence was held after player introductions, then Henderson's three daughters threw out ceremonial first pitches.

Key stat Kelly homered in the fourth inning, had a two-run single in the fifth, doubled and walked in the sixth, and tripled in the eighth. The previous Cubs player to hit for the cycle was Mark Grace on May 9, 1993, against the San Diego Padres — before Kelly was even born in 1994.

No catcher for the Cubs had accomplished the feat since Randy Hundley on Aug. 11, 1966, versus Houston.

Kelly even walked twice, too. His run-scoring triple made it 17-3.

Up next Cubs LHP Justin Steele (1-1, 8.00 ERA) takes the mound Tuesday in his third start of 2025. RHP Luis Severino (0-0, 0.00) makes his second start for the A's after pitching the opener Thursday at Seattle.

How can I watch Chicago Cubs vs. Athletics?

TV Channel: Cubs at Athletics 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.TV.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Rooker grounded out to shortstop.
	9th Inning	Brown singled to right.
	9th Inning	Schuemann struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Muncy lined out to right.
	9th Inning	Berti grounded out to second.
	9th Inning	Rea struck out looking.

Statistics

CHC		ATH
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
1	Hit By Pitch	0
0	Ground Balls	0
7	Strikeouts	6
18	Runs Batted In	3
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
21	Hits	10
0	Stolen Bases	0
10	Walks	2
0	Catcher Interference	0
18	Runs	3
0	Ground Into Double Play	1
1	Sacrifice Flies	0
48	At Bats	36
4	Home Runs	1
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
29	Runners Left On Base	14
1	Triples	0
0	Game Winning RBIs	0
0	Intentional Walks	0
6	Doubles	2
0	Fly Balls	0
0	Caught Stealing	0
246	Pitches	122
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	0
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
0	Is Qualified In Steals	0
41	Total Bases	15
60	Plate Appearances	38
648.0	Projected Home Runs	162.0
11	Extra Base Hits	3
19.1	Runs Created	4.5
.438	Batting Average	.278
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.854	Slugging Percentage	.417
.625	Secondary Average	.194
.533	On Base Percentage	.316
1.388	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.732
0.0	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.0
18.4	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	4.5
119.5	Batter Rating	29.0
12.0	At Bats Per Home Run	36.0
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
4.10	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.21
.417	Isolated Power	.139
1.43	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.33
.167	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.053
.188	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	-.083
36.0	Runs Produced	6.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
1.0	Patience Ratio	0.5
0.5	Balls In Play Average	0.3
151.5	MLB Rating	82.5
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0