During the Dodger’s amazing 12-6 victory over the Rockies on Sunday afternoon, Kenley Jansen had a great day after all of the home runs and wild pitches. The Dodgers who originally were down 5-0, rallied back to score 12 runs, which included eight runs in the final two frames to win their tenth consecutive game.
During the excitement Kenley Jansen was brought in with one out in the top of the eighth inning to record a 5-out save. Something that Kenley has done before. What Kenley has not done before was drive in a run with an RBI double. Kenley did that in the bottom of the eighth.
First things first, Kenley had to record two outs in the top half of the eighth frame, which he did without issue, as he struck out Trevor Story and got Charlie Blackmon to pop out. The Dodgers still have one last chance to hit in the bottom of the eighth as they clung to a 7-6 lead. During this frame the Dodgers scored another two runs off of wild pitches and Cody Bellinger hit his NL leading 24th home run of the season.
Eventually Kenley’s spot in the batting order came up. But this isn’t the first time that Kenley has swung the bat. He was a catcher in the minor leagues before being converted to a pitcher. So he has plenty of experience swinging the bat. In July of 2010 against the Phillies Kenley connected for his first MLB hit of his career.
This season Kenley has gotten two hits, giving him three in his MLB career. On Sunday he doubled, driving in his first MLB run. He drove a double over the head of Blackmon into deep center and he hit the ball hard. Then he closed up shop in the ninth inning to preserve the Dodger’s 12-6 win.
Kenley had struck out 50 and not walked a single batter the entire season before he gave up a free pass to Nolan Arenado with one out in the top of the ninth inning. That was the only blemish of the day for Kenley as he then got Mark Reynolds swinging and Raimel Tapia to line out to end the game.
Overall Kenley has a 4-0 record with a 0.83 ERA in 32.2 innings pitched. He’s allowed only three earned runs all season long and has now struck out 52 against only one walk. That gives him a 52-1 strikeout to walk ratio. He has a 14.3 strikeout per nine rate and a 0.53 FIP. Not only is he the most dominating closer in the game, but he can hit as well.
What can’t Kenley do? Man I’m telling you, Kenley is a beast of nature.
