Kenley Jansen Weighs In On Injury That Sidelined Vs. Mariners

Alex Cora and the Boston Red Sox decided not to push it with veteran reliever Kenley Jansen at T-Mobile Park on Saturday night.

Jansen told reporters after Boston’s 4-3 extra-innings loss to the Seattle Mariners that he woke up with back tightness. The 36-year-old right-hander thought it would be best to take a day off rather than potentially suffering a setback merely three games into the campaign.

“Nothing I can do about it, you know? Tried to come into the ballpark and tried to get ready, but they wouldn’t allow me,” Jansen told reporters, as seen on NESN. “So got to be smart. I go out there and aggravate it then it could be worse for a week or two. I’d rather lose one day or two so I can be back.”

Jansen also dealt with back tightness during spring training, but doesn’t think this is as severe.

“It’s not as worse as the one in spring training, but still I don’t think it’s smart to just go out there and pitch today and then I would be down for two weeks.”

Jansen recorded his first save of the season Thursday. He threw nine of his 15 pitches for strikes with two strikeouts in Boston’s season-opening win. Jansen hopes this ailment won’t be something he has to manage throughout the season, but admitted it’s an uncertain situation.

“I don’t know, man. It’s frustrating,” Jansen said. “What could I do? You go to bed, you wake up in the morning and you have a bad back. And you try to ramp it up and it’s not allowing you to. We’ll see how it goes.”

The Red Sox conclude their four-game series in Seattle on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is set for 4:10 p.m. ET, and you can watch it live on NESN after an hour of pregame coverage.