Max Muncy Continues to Slug, Denzel Clarke's Latest Amazing Catch

There were plenty of positives to take from the A's loss to the Angels

Jun 9, 2025; Anaheim, California, USA; Athletics starting pitcher Jeffrey Springs (58) delivers to the plate in the third inning Athletics at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Athletics took on Yusei Kikuchi and the Los Angeles Angels to open up the series on Monday night. The A's had right-hander Grant Holman open the game, then southpaw Jeffrey Springs on the mound to be the bulk reliever for the team.

In the bottom of the first inning, with opener Grant Holman on the mound, Nolan Schanuel would send a ball to deep left-center, and as has become customary since he was called up, Denzel Clarke scaled up the wall to make what could possibly be the catch of the year.

UNREAL CATCH FROM DENZEL CLARKE 😱

PLAY OF THE YEAR 🔥

(via @MLB)pic.twitter.com/yt8FFkPeZD

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 10, 2025

Denzel Clarke has made a number of amazing catches in his few weeks in the big leagues. In back-to-back weeks, Clarke won the most electric play of the week following his amazing catches, and will certainly win one again for the third week in a row. Even the batter, Nolan Schanuel, was in awe.

Nolan Schanuel on seeing his homer robbed by Denzel Clarke: “I sat here for like 10 minutes watching over and over. A bunch of my friends sent it to me. It stings. But it’s kind of like I get a little part of history with it, because we'll see that catch for years and years."

— Martín Gallegos (@MartinJGallegos) June 10, 2025

Jeffrey Springs would enter the game in the second and throw six innings as the bulk reliever. Springs got into some early trouble in the third inning when Angels' shortstop Zach Neto singled to drive in Scott Kingery to put the Angels on the board.

Schanuel would get a small amount of revenge by driving in Kevin Newman. Mike Trout would then follow that up with immediately driving in Neto to give the Angels a 3-0 lead. The next inning, Angels' outfielder Jo Adell would hit his 12th home run of the season to extend their lead 4-0.

Angels' starter Yusei Kikuchi would put together one of, if not, his best starts of the season tonight. Kikuchi pitched into the eighth inning for LA, and only allowed one hit to Max Muncy, and one walk to Luis Urias. In those 7 1/3 innings, he punched out five A's hitters.

After the Angels pulled Kikuchi, they brought in Connor Brogdon, and he would allow a single right away to A's second baseman, Luis Urias. After Urias, the team would pinch-hit JJ Bleday into the game, and he hit a two-run shot to cut their deficit to two.

The Angels would respond in the bottom of the eighth, as they got to A's reliever Tyler Ferguson rather quickly. Trout hit a sacrifice fly to score Neto. Then, Jo Adell would strike the A's again, but this time, would drive in Nolan Schanuel and Travis D'Arnaud on a two RBI single. He'd finish the game 2-for-4 with three RBI.

In the ninth inning, Tyler Soderstrom hit a single, which set up a home run from the hot-hitting Max Muncy. This home run made the score 7-4, and with two away, Ron Washington would turn to his closer, Kenley Jansen, to get the one-out save. He got Luis Urías to ground out, which secured the win for the Angels.

Muncy was called up on June 4 for the final two games against the Minnesota Twins last week, and in five games played he's batting .286 (6-for-21) with three home runs and six RBI. He has now homered in three of his last four contests.

Tomorrow for game two of the three-game set, the A's will face José Soriano, who is having a decent season for the Angels. Mitch Spence is set to make his second start of the season for the A's, coming off his first start, which went quite well for the right-hander.

The A's will look to keep all the positives they've experienced recently with Denzel Clarke's defense, and the bats of Max Muncy and Jacob Wilson to help get them back in the win column tomorrow.