Braves Twitter incensed over Kenley Jansen surrendering walk-off walk against Cardinals

The Atlanta Braves brought Kenley Jansen in during the offseason for one reason: to close out games. Their bullpen has been excellent, but their previous closer, Will Smith, struggled in spots. Because of that, they dealt Smith to the Houston Astros for Jake Odorizzi and promoted Jansen to the full-time closer role.

On Saturday night, though, Jansen had one of his worst outings this year. The ex-Dodgers star entered in the ninth inning for the Braves as they held a one-run lead against the St. Louis Cardinals. It started off well, with Jansen forcing a ground out from leadoff hitter Lars Nootbaar. All seemed to be fine, until it wasn’t.

First, Jansen gave up a double to rookie Brendan Donovan to put the tying run on base. Then, he walked Paul Goldschmidt to first… before hitting Nolan Arenado in his next at-bat. With the bases loaded, the Braves closer gave up a single to tie the game… before walking Tyler O’Neill to give the Cardinals a walk-off walk to win the game.

That blown save opportunity naturally caused the Braves fanbase to lash out at Kenley Jansen. Many were unconvinced that the former Dodgers pitcher could close games out reliably for Atlanta in the postseason.

One could probably argue that the Braves are overreacting with Jansen’s latest blown save: he leads the league with 29 saves this season, after all. With how deep Atlanta’s bullpen goes, though, perhaps Brian Snitker should try moving one of his other reliable arms to the closer role. AJ Minter and Tyler Matzek are names that have been floating around as potential closers in Jansen’s stead.