A’s center fielder Denzel Clarke said, “Not today,” to Drake Baldwin’s bid for a third hit and a fifth RBI during Wednesday's series finale against the Braves.
Baldwin, who was 2-for-2 with four RBIs and a walk over his first three plate appearances, almost added a home run to his body of work in the bottom of the seventh, but Clarke covered 82 feet in five seconds and made a leaping catch in front of the center-field wall to take away what would have been Baldwin’s fourth long ball of the season.
“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.”
“That’s Denzel being Denzel,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “He goes and gets it and has a knack [for making] those plays over the fence, and it was a nice catch.”
Baldwin’s lineout traveled a Statcast-projected 401 feet with a 102.8 mph exit velocity and a launch angle of 23 degrees.