Kenley

Jansen

Jansen made it look easy in this one, needing just nine pitches (seven strikes) to put the A’s to bed. He got Jacob Wilson on a bouncer to short, JJ Bleday on a fly ball to left field and Lawrence Butler on a foul pop out to left. The 37-year-old hurler now holds a 2.83 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and a 50/18 K/BB ratio over 54 innings on the season while converting 26 of his first 27 save chances.

Detmers filled in for Kenley Jansen – who’d pitched three out of the last four days – and slammed the door shut on the Royals here. Of his last 13 outings, he’s held the opposing team scoreless and 12 of them and vaulted himself way up the pecking order in the Angels’ bullpen in the process.

The save was his 25th, making this the 13th season of his career that he’s reached that mark. Aside from the shortened 2020, he’s gotten there every year since 2012.

Jansen gave up a 406-foot blast to Cam Smith with one on, but it was just a long out to end the game. It was Jansen’s first save chance in 17 days, but he did have one win and two losses in tie games in the interim.

Jansen elaborated that he’s been dealing with pain in his left ribs since tweaking his side during a workout over the weekend. The 37-year-old veteran stopper, who took a loss after allowing two runs during Tuesday’s game against the Reds, is unavailable to close on Wednesday night, but is hoping to avoid a trip to the injured list. There should be a final decision on his status ahead of Friday’s series opener against the Cubs. His absence would open the door for Reid Detmers to take over as the Angels’ primary ninth-inning option.

The 37-year-old stopper came on to work the bottom of the ninth inning in a tied game. He immediately made things interesting by allowing a leadoff single to Carlos Cortes and then walking Nick Kurtz to put the winning run in scoring position with zero outs. He then rallied to strike out Shea Langeliers and Brent Rooker in succession before walking Tyler Soderstrom to load the bases, Jansen then got Lawrence Butler to foul out to the catcher on the first pitch that he saw. He then became the beneficiary after the Halos scored six times in the 10th inning. Now 5-2 on the season, Jansen holds a 2.68 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and a 47/15 K/BB ratio over 47 innings while converting 23 of his first 24 save chances.

Jansen’s save comes with no walks and no strikeouts, and he didn’t allow a walk. Effectively boring. It’s the 23rd save of the season for the 37-year-old, and his ERA is now a solid 2.74 in 2025. He’s done a very nice job, and the Angels probably should have let him do a very nice job for someone else before the trade deadline.

Jansen has struggled some against his original organization in his years since exiting in 2022, but that wasn’t the case tonight. It helped that he got to face the bottom of the lineup, and he retired Michael Conforto, Alex Freeland and Alex Call in order to end the game. It’s his 22nd save of the year and the 469th of his career.

Jansen took the mound in the bottom of the ninth to close out the game with a three-run lead. He struck out two batters in a perfect inning on 12 pitches for his 21st save of the season to go with an excellent 2.72 ERA across 43 innings.

Jansen came on to work in the top half of the ninth inning with the score knotted up at five runs apiece. It wasn’t the smoothest of innings, as he allowed a one-out single to Brooks Baldwin and a two-out walk to Mike Tauchman, but he got Lenyn Sosa to pop out to shortstop to end the inning. He then became the beneficiary when the Angels walked it off in the home half. On the season, the 37-year-old stopper now boasts a 2.85 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and a 39/12 K/BB ratio over 41 frames while converting 20 of his first 21 save chances.