Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen came plummeting down to earth Friday night.
Jansen made his way into the history books on Wednesday, becoming the 7th player in Major League Baseball history to lock down 400 career saves. In his first opportunity to push that number to 401, the 35-year-old got hit hard.
The St. Louis Cardinals tagged him for three runs on three hits and a walk, turning a 6-5 deficit into an 8-6 lead — and eventual victory, when Red Sox manager Alex Cora was forced to remove his big right hander before ever recording an out. The blow up inning ballooned Jansen’s season ERA from 0.77 to 3.09, a more than 300% increase on just 22 pitches thrown.
It was ugly, but nothing that was unexpected.
“It’s gonna happen, right?” Cora said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “The last two days have been very heavy emotionally, all that stuff. It was something I was thinking when he was throwing. We didn’t make pitches, they ran the bases and that’s what happened. We’ll move on and he’ll be ready for the next one.
“… You’re going to have bad nights. It’ll never be perfect.”
The blown save was obviously uncharacteristic coming from Jansen, who will find himself in Cooperstown shortly after he ends his career. In giving away the win, the Curacao native moved to 9-for-11 on save opportunities and the Red Sox moved to 20-1 in games where they lead after eight innings. Boston rallied to win Jansen’s first blown save of the year.
“I got my (expletive) whooped. That’s it,” Jansen said postgame. “Take it like a man. I’ve been down before and I hate it, but tomorrow’s another day. You gotta bring the positive side and come back to help my team win ball games tomorrow. … When I go out there I battle and today they beat me. I just got to come back tomorrow. Be positive and come back tomorrow and keep it rolling.”
Jansen and the Red Sox will have an opportunity to bounce back against the Cardinals on Saturday. First pitch is set for 4:10 p.m. ET, following an hour of pregame coverage on NESN.
