Last Night in Baseball: Denzel Clarke made an all-time catch to rob a homer

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a day ago

There is always baseball happening — almost too much baseball for one person to handle themselves.
That's why we're here to help, though, by sifting through the previous days' games, and figuring out what you missed, but shouldn't have. Here are all the best moments from last night in Major League Baseball: Clarke makes the catch of the year, and then some
Robbing a home run rocks, even if it looks like it was handled pretty easily. Say, if a player gets to wait and wait at the wall, and can time their leap perfectly – that's still a good time, and takes real skill! Which means that what Denzel Clarke pulled off on Monday night against the Angels was downright wild, because he didn't get to camp under this would-be home run at all, and had to reach so far over the wall that he nearly went over it. He made the grab, though. Did he ever.
Whew. Dipping well over the wall, spinning in place to right himself, popping back into the field, then celebrating with a full-body flex. There was only one out before the grab, sure, but Clarke can be forgiven being so pumped up that he took a moment before remembering to check to see if anyone was on base. It's one of the best catches you'll ever see, and if you can't take our word for it, you could ask someone who would know for sure. A man who made a great catch or two in his day: Torii Hunter.
It's entirely possible that you didn't know who Denzel Clarke was until this catch, or right now, and that's understandable. He's a rookie outfielder for the Athletics, who has played in all of 16 games as he didn't debut until May 23. In these two-plus weeks, though, Clarke has made his mark. There's the above catch, yes, but he had already won Electric Play of the Week honors in consecutive weeks, which only one other player (Riley Greene, h/t Sarah Langs) has done in the past since the award was instituted in 2019. Without any other context, that's impressive, but then you remember Clarke has been up for just two weeks and is absolutely going to win a third week in a row for Monday's robbery, and impressive doesn't begin to cover it.
It's not just getting all the way to the wall in center or robbing home runs, either. There's more than the highlight-reel catches: the 25-year-old Clarke, in just 16 games, has amassed 0.6 wins above replacement per FanGraphs' reckoning, and it's entirely due to his glove. He's hitting .219/.245/.294 in 53 plate appearances and striking out more than half the time, which outputs to a negative offensive WAR, but in a lineup as talented as the one the A's have had this year, and with the significant problems their pitching staff has had that have basically negated that lineup's production… Clarke's glove could be worth him being a zero at the plate offensively.
And for what it's worth, his minor-league numbers didn't suggest a future offensive star by any means, but they did portend a better performance than this. With time, his big-league line could go from miserable to tolerable, and if the glove keeps putting up the kinds of numbers it has so far, that's going to be more than enough for Clarke to be worth the lineup spot. Rays spoil Anthony's debut
The city of Boston was buzzing as Fenway welcomed the long-awaited arrival of top-prospect Roman Anthony – not just their top prospect, but in all of baseball this year. The Rays, however, stole the show.
The Rays scored a run in the top of the ninth to extend their lead to 7-5, but the Red Sox answered in the bottom of the frame with a pair to tie it up and send things to extras. Taylor Walls drove Junior Caminero in with a sac fly to give Tampa Bay their eighth run, and the Sox scored on a throwing error by Jonathan Arranda in the bottom of the 10th to stay alive, but they couldn't keep the Rays' offense down. In the 11th, Zack Kelly walked in a run with the bases loaded, and then Jake Mangum would follow with a single that scored Josh Lowe, giving the Rays a 10-8 lead that they would hold onto for the win.
Tampa Bay has quietly heated up after a subpar start to the season. They've now won six of their last seven and 15 of their last 19 games, including Monday's 10-8 victory, to move into a tie for second place in the AL East with the Blue Jays.
Similarly to the Rays' silent rise, Aranda, out of nowhere, is now fourth in the American League in batting average at .323 after hitting a combined .222 over the first 110 games of his career from 2022 through 2024. On Monday, he went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, pushing his line for the season to .323/.409/.490, good for a 158 OPS+. All of that helps make up for the throwing error, easy.
Anthony, by the way, didn't record his first big-league hit in his four trips to the plate, but he did walk and drive in a run on a ground out in that rally in the bottom of the ninth. A walk-off grand slam for Naylor
We do see quite few walk-off wins these days, given the extra inning rules with the baserunner on second. That's true enough. Josh Naylor didn't need the baserunner in scoring position, though, in order to get his walk-off hit in the bottom of the 11th in Arizona. And that's because the Diamondbacks' first baseman went deep to win, with the bases juiced. That's right, a walk-off grand slam:
Sure, the D-backs just needed the one run to win, but there's something to be said for how emphatic a grand slam is. For example: George Kirby's 14-strikeout game was cause for optimism all day on Monday, given the Mariners had lost five in a row before his gem put a stop to that skid. There's still reason to be optimistic for Seattle, but Naylor might have squashed a bit of it in the moment with a single swing of the bat. A walk-off homer? Painful. A walk-off grand slam? That exclamation point is way too pointy. Sale fans double-digits, again
Chris Sale has been on a heater of late. The Braves' ace was just a bit off in his first five starts of the year, either giving up too many runs or walks or not lasting very deep into the games, and it resulted in a 6.17 ERA through his first 23.3 innings. Things have been just a little bit different in his nine starts since, however: over that stretch, Sale has amassed 57.1 innings, a 1.41 ERA, and 75 strikeouts.
On three separate occasions in those nine starts, Sale struck out 10 batters, and on Monday, he took down a season-high 11 by way of the K, with the Brewers his swing-and-miss victims this time around. The reigning NL Cy Young award winner now has a 2.74 ERA and 107 strikeouts in 80.2 innings, and while none of those figures are leading the league like they did last year, he's not all that far off of the pace anymore, with that tough start all that's holding him back at this point. Well, numbers-wise: it's fair to say that he's not being held back by anything at all on the mound these days, as the Brewers can attest to after Monday. Phillies back?
The Phillies have been struggling of late, with June a nightmare for them so far that has included the conclusion of a sweep by the Brewers and a weekend sweep by the Pirates, of all teams. Maybe a big dub against the Cubs can right that ship a little, though – the Phillies have a ton of talent, after all, and aren't nearly as helpless as they've looked this month. Monday night was a reminder of as much.
It had been a pitcher's duel through the first nine innings, but the bats took over in extras. The Cubs had the first say, as Pete Crow-Armstrong picked up a double to score Kyle Tucker and give them a 3-2 lead in the top half of the 11th. The Phillies had an answer. JT Realmuto hit a single to right field, and Nick Castellanos got on his horse to tie the scoring run from second base. Two batters later, Brandon Marsh smoked a walk-off hit to deep center field.
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