Dodgers’ Kenley Jansen: Melts down against Houston

Jansen (3-1) took the loss and blew the save against the Astros on Saturday, allowing five runs (four earned) on five hits without retiring a batter.

Jansen had no problem getting the ball over the plate in the disastrous outing — 18 of his 21 pitches went for strikes — but he was unable to locate his cutter, allowing Houston to scatter base hits at will. Los Angeles stuck with him in the hope that he’d be able to rediscover his early-season dominance, but the veteran never found his form and left the mound without recording an out. After an effective outing Sept. 4, Jansen had a superb 1.06 ERA and had surrendered only two earned runs on the season. Since that time, he has given up eight runs (six earned) in 1.1 frames to push his ERA all the way up to 3.93. The organization is likely to give their longtime closer a chance to get back on track over the final few weeks of the regular season, though there could be some urgency to ensure that Jansen doesn’t carry over his recent struggles to the postseason.

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