Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner owns Pittsburgh Pirates left-hander Tyler Anderson; there is simply no other way to describe it. The extremely popular 36-year-old bearded redhead entered Wednesday night’s game having gone 15-for-31 (.484) with one home run against Anderson. When the game ended on a spectacular catch by Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen, it was 17-for-34 (.500) with three home runs against him.
“That’s some serious ownage,” Dodgers broadcaster Tim Neverett said after Turner’s second solo blast of the night; a 348-foot shot to left field that went into and out of the glove of Pirates left fielder Ka’ai Tom‘s and into the stands.
“I just see the ball pretty well off (Anderson) and try to get good pitches up in the zone, and try to put good swings on it,” Turner said after his two-home-run night. “I got a little fortunate on the second one. It looked like it went off Tom’s glove, and he kind of threw it into the stands, but I’ll take it.”
As for that spectacular catch by Jansen, it was a scorching line drive off the bat of Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes on a full count with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, with the tying run on second base and Hayes representing the winning run. After fouling off three pitches during the eight-pitch at-bat, Hayes ripped the ninth pitch right back up the middle for what should have been a game-tying single. Instead, Jansen somehow got his glove up in time to snare the liner for the final out to secure his 14th save of the season and the Dodgers 2-1 win.
“That was fun. That was a quick rush, you know, adrenaline and everything,” Jansen said during his postgame interview. “It’s kind of escape for your life. The reaction time, to catch that ball, that’s awesome.”
“The adrenaline rush right there was big,” echoed Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “He got two big saves for us in two days.”
With the win and losses by the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres, the Dodgers are now in second place in the National League West division two games behind the Giants and a half-game ahead of the Padres.
Play Ball!
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It looked like Jansen made 2 saves at the same time. One with the pitch and one with the catch.