ANAHEIM — Once they overcame the shock of it all, the Angels were off and running Monday.
Athletics center fielder Denzel Clarke froze time in the first inning with a stunning home-run robbing catch that nearly carried him over the wall. Two innings later, the Angels finally were able to spring forward toward a 7-4 victory.
Nolan Schanuel exacted a bit of revenge after his home run was taken away, delivering an RBI single in a three-run third inning, and left-hander Yusei Kikuchi allowed just one hit over 7⅓ scoreless innings as the Angels won for the fifth time in seven games.
Jo Adell hit his 12th home run, and his third in the past three games, by comfortably clearing the wall in the fourth inning. He finished with three RBIs.
But Clarke’s catch still managed to resonate long after his out was secured, even as the A’s struggled on offense and weren’t much better on defense outside of one of the highlights of the season so far.
With one out in the bottom of the first, Schanuel’s drive to center carried toward the rock pile beyond the wall. Clarke hardly broke stride as he stuck his right foot into the padded wall, used his right hand to lift himself even higher and reached his glove hand into the air.
Clark caught the ball with his waist at the top of the padding then twisted his body around in one full motion before landing on the warning track with two feet, while flexing his chest muscles.
The Angels were the ones doing the preening from there.
Their third-inning outburst started with Scott Kingery’s bunt single that turned into two bases when A’s pitcher Jeffrey Springs misfired on his throw to first base. Kevin Newman followed by reaching base on another error, this one with the glove by third baseman Max Muncy.
Zach Neto made it 1-0 on an RBI single that left fielder Brent Rooker bobbled and Schanuel was able to breathe a little easier when his single to center made it 2-0. Clarke even bobbled that ball. Mike Trout made it 3-0 with a single through the left side.
Adell made it 4-0 in the fourth inning with a towering shot into the A’s bullpen in left field.
In the eighth inning, Adell had a chance to match Clarke on defense, reaching over the wall to catch a drive by JJ Bleday, but the ball was jostled out of his glove as he made impact with the padding. Bleday’s pinch-hit home run against right-hander Connor Brogdon cut the visitors’ deficit to 4-2.
After Brogdon followed with a walk to Seth Brown, Angels manager Ron Washington went to right-hander Ryan Zeferjahn, who ended the threat on a pair of ground balls.
Adell made up for his defensive play that wasn’t meant to be with a two-run single in the eighth for a five-run lead. Angels right-hander Shaun Anderson gave up a two-run home run to Muncy in the ninth before Kenley Jansen recorded the final out.
Kikuchi (2-5) retired the first 13 batters he faced before Muncy singled in the fifth inning. He finished his outing by retiring nine of the next 10 A’s batters. He had five strikeouts to go along with his one walk, while throwing 104 pitches.
More to come on this story.
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