Former Red Sox All-Star Dealing With Injury After Dominant Stretch

A former Red Sox star experienced an interruption to his midseason resurgence.

Kenley Jansen said Wednesday that he’s dealing with rib pain on his left side. The Los Angeles Angels closer hopes to avoid a trip to the injured list, per team reporter Erica Weston.

Jansen represented the Red Sox when making his fourth All-Star appearance in 2023, his first of two seasons with the organization. He posted a 3.44 ERA with 56 combined saves before Boston signed another veteran closer, Aroldis Chapman, last offseason.

The wheels momentarily fell off for Jansen in May. He allowed 14 hits, five walks, and 10 runs (four home runs) over 9 1/3 disastrous innings, but Jansen has since bounced back and pitched like his old self.

Jansen has recovered from that rough patch and repaired his season ERA to 3.00. The 37-year-old was named the American League Reliever of the Month after pitching 11 scoreless innings with four hits, no walks and 13 strikeouts in July.

He had gone 21 straight appearances without allowing an earned run before Shohei Ohtani took Jansen deep for a solo home run on Aug. 12. Jansen escaped a bases-loaded jam in Sunday’s extra-innings win over the Athletics but surrendered two runs in his last appearance, a 6-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds.

Jansen was presumably unavailable on Wednesday night, as he didn’t pitch in a 2-1 victory over Cincinnati. Luis Garcia, who had a rough stint in Boston to end the 2024 season, pitched a clean ninth inning to record his first save of the season.

Garcia has allowed just one run in eight innings since joining the Angels from the Washington Nationals before the trade deadline. It’s the jolt the Red Sox hoped to receive when acquiring the veteran last year, but he relinquished 15 runs in 15 1/3 innings.

Although Jansen seemed like a sensible candidate to get traded last month, the Angels opted against selling the 16-year veteran. They’re now 6.5 games out of a playoff spot at 61-66.

A prolonged absence would eliminate any chance of Jansen moving up to third on MLB’s all-time saves leaderboard. He’s nine away from passing Lee Smith at 470.