It happened. Again.

After soundly defeating the Toronto Blue Jays 16-3 on Tuesday night but taking a precarious 1-0 lead over them into the top of the ninth inning at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday night, Dodgers once so-called “elite” closer Kenley Jansen blew a save, thus denying young Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler what would have been – and should have been – his 11th win of the season.

It was Jansen’s sixth blown save this season and second in his last two save opportunities, with the last occurring on August 6. As a result, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has been using the 31-year-old Willemstad, Curacao native, who logged an MLB-best 41 saves in 2017, in what Roberts called “lower leverage” situations.

It didn’t work; at least not on Wednesday night when Jansen gave up a game-tying solo home run to Blue Jays first baseman Rowdy Tellez with one out in the top of the ninth inning (his 15th of the season), leading to Jansen exiting the field after finally recording the third out of the inning to a chorus of boos from the Dodger Stadium crowd of 44,106.

Fortunately – very fortunately – Dodgers second baseman Max Muncy hit a game-winning walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Dodgers the 2-1 win. It was Muncy’s fifth home run in his last five games and reduced the Dodgers magic number to win their seventh consecutive National League West division title to 16.

But despite Muncy’s late-innings heroics and as absolutely positively expected, Robert not only defended Jansen, he told reporters after the game – several times, in fact – “Kenley’s Our Closer.”

“I just felt he had a chance to throw a slider down below and [he] went to the well one too many times,” Roberts said of the eight-pitch / six-cutter at-bat to Tellez. “Actually, it wasn’t a bad pitch. But when you give a guy with power multiple looks in the same quadrant, it decreases your margin. I know Kenley feels bad, but he got a [strikeout] and some soft contact. Unfortunately, he couldn’t put up a zero.”

Jansen indeed felt bad. So bad, in fact, that he would not meet with the gathered media after the game. Instead, reporters – including SportsNet LA’s Alanna Rizzo – were told that the Dodgers clubhouse was now closed and instructed to leave.

Jansen, as you may recall, received a very lucrative five-year / $80 million contract extension on January 10, 2017, which runs through the 2021 season. Unfortunately, since June 26, Jansen has blown as many saves as he has converted – three of each.

To add insult to injury, Dodgers right-hander Joe Kelly, who the Dodgers signed to an equally lucrative three-year / $25 million contract on December 21, 2018 that runs through 2021 and includes a $12 million club option for 2022 (or a $4 million buyout), was brilliant in his scoreless and hitless eighth inning in relief of Buehler, just as he has been (as Roberts himself put it) “…over the last couple of months,” including in several “high-leverage” situations. However, Roberts immediately – yet again – defended Jansen and said that Jansen is and will remain his closer.

“I think Joe’s done that over the last couple of months … Joe’s thrown the baseball very well for what, two, three months?” Roberts said. “Leverage isn’t a problem with Joe. So… um… Kenley’s my closer, but tonight leverage in the eighth inning and Joe put up another zero.

“It’s good to have options, but right now, Kenley’s our closer and Joe, and Petey (right-hander Pedro Baez) are going to pitch in plenty of leverage situations,” Roberts added. “But right now, I still think that Kenley’s tracking in a positive direction, regardless of the outcome.”

Did Kelly lobby to go back out for the ninth inning for what might have been a two-inning save for the Anaheim, CA native and second-round draft pick by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2009 out of the University of California, Riverside?

“No,” Kelly answered in a word.

As for Muncy’s dramatic walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th, it gave the Dodgers their 11th walk-off win of the season and, as noted, was Muncy’s fifth home run in five consecutive games.

“It’s amazing. I keep talking about the moment, his at-bats, and I think that he had three walks last night and homered,” Roberts said. “And it’s just kind of understanding the values of swinging at strikes, really, and if they don’t throw strikes then he takes his base.

“And so, if he doesn’t get overanxious and, even right there, he’s not trying to hit a home run, he’s trying to get a ball in the zone and put the barrel to it,” Roberts continued. “And so, it’s just really the consistency, the maturity he has as a hitter, and you see the use of the big part of the field. And he can carry right-center, left-center, center field and it allows him to stay on the baseball, hit left-handed pitching. But yeah, I can’t count how many big hits he’s gotten for us.”

Big indeed.

Play Ball!

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