Baldwin plates 4, could have had more if not for HR robbery

ATLANTA -- While Braves starter Chris Sale credited his catcher for guiding him through a nearly spotless six-inning start, backstop Drake Baldwin led Atlanta's offense, too, in a series-clinching 5-1 win Wednesday afternoon at Truist Park.

Baldwin factored in on all five Braves runs: His single to left field in the second and his double to deep right-center field in the fourth -- both with two outs -- scored two runs apiece. Matt Olson singled him home in the fourth.

“Hitting, a lot of times, you’re just up there reacting to stuff, trying to use the big part of the field,” Baldwin said. “Hit it in the gaps and stay in the moment.”

In the seventh, A’s center fielder Denzel Clarke robbed Baldwin of a home run, leaping at the wall in left-center for an incredible catch.

“He made it look way too easy,” Baldwin said. “I thought I hit it pretty well, and it looked like he was walking over there and he just caught it over the fence. I was like, ‘Wow.’ He didn’t make it look hard, so a really, really special defender out there.”

With Baldwin’s walk in the first, he was 2-for-3 with four RBIs and one run scored.

“He’s a special hitter,” manager Walt Weiss said. “There’s a lot of margin for error with his swing, because it’s in the zone for so long. It’s line-to-line, it’s high-contact with power. … This early in his career, it’s amazing what’s out in front of this kid.”

The Braves taxed Athletics starter Luis Severino early, drawing three walks -- two on full counts -- in the first inning. Severino escaped the jam by picking off Ronald Acuña Jr. and striking out two, including Mike Yastrzemski, who also worked a full count to put Severino’s total at 30 pitches for the inning.

Ozzie Albies led off the bottom of the second with another full-count walk, before Michael Harris II struck out on -- you guessed it -- yet another full count. Against conventional wisdom of waiting out a pitcher struggling with command, Dominic Smith came out swinging and muscled an 0-2 pitch into left-center field for a single, moving Albies to third. With two outs, Acuña walked for the second time in as many innings to load the bases, and then Baldwin lofted a single to left field to open the scoring, sending Albies and Smith home.

By the time Olson struck out to end the inning, Severino had labored through 35 more pitches for 65 total in just two innings.

“I thought the offense did a nice job with Severino, forcing him into the zone and really making him work hard and build that pitch count,” Weiss said. “This won’t be in the box score, but Ozzie’s at-bat to lead off the second was a big at-bat, because Severino had a tough first inning, and then Ozzie has a long at-bat, goes deep into the count and draws a walk. That started the second inning going, so great job by Ozzie, great job by our guys keeping the line moving.”

Meanwhile, Sale took until his last batter of the third inning to eclipse 35 pitches, perfect through the order the first time through. In fact, the only time the A’s reached base against Sale in his six frames was Shea Langeliers’ MLB-leading fifth homer of the season, a towering drive to left field.

“He’s been doing it forever -- that’s why he’s as good as he is,” Baldwin said of Sale. “He’s able to lean on some other pitches when he might not have the same [velocity] all the time on his fastball. But the changeup and the slider, being able to throw it for strikes and execute down in the zone, kept [the A’s] off balance and allowed him to get through six innings.”

Baldwin’s ringing double to right-center in the fourth was the lone extra-base hit for Atlanta, and it scored Smith and Mauricio Dubón. It was the second time Smith singled and scored in the game. Dubón’s single extended his hitting streak to three games while maintaining the team lead in batting average (.412).

“I put a little extra effort in everything … since Spring Training now, as I get consistent at-bats,” Dubón said. “Just going out there and trying to help the team win.”

Robert Suarez, Dylan Lee and Raisel Iglesias each threw a scoreless inning to close out the win.

After Wednesday’s triumph, the team left for Arizona, where Reynaldo López will start for the Braves and Ryne Nelson will get the ball for the Diamondbacks in the first of a four-game series Thursday night.