It took a few games for Boston to set him up with the opportunity, but Kenley Jansen finally has his first save as a member of the Red Sox.
Jansen, who moved his career saves total to 392 on Thursday, locked things down in the ninth inning to secure a 6-3 victory for the Red Sox over the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. The 35-year-old took an opportunity to send an encouraging message to fans following the game.
"It feels awesome. First of many," Jansen said, as seen on NESN postgame coverage. "Hopefully we continue to keep doing great things and I'm looking forward to it. It definitely had a different feel after that first save as a Red Sox."
It was just the second appearance on the young season for Jansen, who signed a two-year deal with Boston in the offseason. Things have gone as well as possible so far, as the Curacao native has retired six of the seven batters he's faced to log a pair of scoreless innings with two strikeouts. Surprisingly, Jansen is throwing as hard as he ever has early on, averaging 94 MPH on his pitches, per FanGraphs. That total is 2.2% higher than his average last season with the Atlanta Braves.
Jansen and Chris Martin combined for a pair of scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth, displaying the type of late-inning setup the Red Sox hope to make a familiarity this season. Manager Alex Cora spoke about his late-inning relievers postgame.
"They're going to help us win ballgames," Cora said, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage. "The strike throwing thing is real. They throw a lot of strikes, quality strikes, too. I'm glad that they're here -- both of them, they're really good."
Outside of a brief scare toward the end of spring training, Jansen's start in a Red Sox uniform has been near perfect. He will hope that momentum continues as Boston returns to action Saturday against the Tigers following the rare mid-series off day. You can watch full coverage of Red Sox-Tigers starting at 3:30 p.m. ET on NESN.
