When Kenley Jansen took the mound in Atlanta on Wednesday night, he channeled unique power in order to become the seventh pitcher in Major League Baseball history with 400 or more saves.
His own.
As he warmed in the visitor’s bullpen, connections to his past abounded. NESN’s Tom Caron noted that the native Curaçaoan got loose as advertisements for his home island lit up the balcony of the upper deck.
After 12 seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers (including Rookie of the Year votes in 2011, Cy Young and MVP votes in 2017, a trio of consecutive All-Star years, and a 2020 championship), Jansen spent the 2022 campaign in Atlanta, finishing the year with a National League-leading 54 games finished and 41 saves.
Jansen recorded his first career save on July 25, 2010. He needed 15 pitches to earn the first, likewise for the 400th.
The venerated veteran faced four batters in the ninth. In another nod to the former catcher’s past, the first and last hitters of the frame were catchers Sean Murphy and Travis d’Arnaud.
Though he began with a mix of cutters and sinkers in the 95-97 mph range, his velocity shot up once he’d gotten the first two outs. As d’Arnaud stepped up to bat, Jansen kicked his engine into high gear.
96.5, 98.4, 98.4, 98.7, 98.5, 87.9 mph. Save No. 400.
According to MLB’s Sarah Langs, Jansen hadn’t thrown a pitch of 98.4 mph or harder since Aug. 27, 2016, when he was the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 28-year-old All-Star closer.
Jansen has now made 12 appearances for the Red Sox, who are his first American League team, finished 10 games, earned nine saves, and allowed just one run. He’ll turn 36 at the end of September, but in his 14th season, he continues to dominate as if time has slowed to a snail’s pace for him.
It feels as though he’s been pitching forever, and as if he could continue on forever more.
Thursday marked two years since the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox, also know as the WooSox, opened the gates of Polar Park for the first time.
As such, it’s fitting that Ballpark Digest announced Thursday that Polar Park was voted the Best Triple-A Ballpark in the country.
Determining who’d take home the honor was no easy feat. Ballpark Digest put all Triple-A stadiums into a bracket, then submitted the minor league locales to five rounds of voting done by over 87,000 participants.
After going 3-2 on a road trip to Philadelphia and Atlanta, the Red Sox are back at Fenway this weekend to host the St. Louis Cardinals for a three-game Mother’s Day weekend set.
James Paxton has been activated and is set to make his debut on Friday night. He hasn’t pitched in a major league game since April 6, 2021. Since then, he’s undergone Tommy John surgery, then suffered a Grade 2 lat tear in his first rehab start in August of the following year.
Here’s the schedule and probable pitching matchups:
Friday (7:10 p.m.): RHP Adam Wainwright vs. LHP James Paxton
Saturday (4:10 p.m.): LHP Steven Matz vs. LHP Chris Sale
Sunday (7:10 p.m.): RHP Miles Mikolas vs. RHP Corey Kluber
On May 12, 1948, the Red Sox finally televised a home game at Fenway Park.
As the iconic Saturday Night Live character Stefon famously said, this game had everything. Except, an interested crowd, that is; Baseball-Reference lists that day’s attendance as a meager 8,267.
Nearly a decade had passed since the first-ever televised major league game, which took place on Aug. 26, 1939. Radio still reigned supreme when the Cincinnati Reds and Brooklyn Dodgers faced off at the latter’s own Ebbets Field.
But despite being late to the party, Boston’s American League team made sure to keep viewers glued to the screen to the very end.
In the bottom of the seventh, Ted Williams singled to drive in a pair of runs to tie things up, then stole his first base since 1942 (in between, he’d missed three seasons while serving in World War II).
Thanks to Johnny Pesky’s usual exemplary defense, the Red Sox were able to extend the game to the 10th inning, at which point Bobby Doerr promptly walked it off with a three-run homer.
Advantage, television.
Years later, on August 11, 1951, it would be the Dodgers and Red Sox playing the first televised ballgame in color.