Kenley Jansen’s miserable weekend continues with another ninth-inning meltdown and another Red Sox loss
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Kenley Jansen’s weekend got worse. Less than 24 hours after losing the series opener, Jansen was again charged with a blown save and a loss after the Cardinals rallied for three runs in the ninth inning on Saturday to beat the Red Sox, 4-3, at Fenway Park.
Jansen allowed one hit, walked three, and was charged with three pitch-clock violations.
For Jansen, it was a weekend that started in celebratory fashion. The Sox honored the closer on Friday for earning his 400th career save earlier in the week in Atlanta.
This game was supposed to be about Chris Sale’s eight-inning masterpiece. Instead, it was spoiled by Jansen’s meltdown.
Jansen walked Paul Goldschmidt to open the ninth. He then walked Wilson Contreras, too, with two of the balls awarded because of pitch-clock violations, the second on a 3-1 count. Nolan Arenado, the next hitter, popped out to second base, but Norlan Gorman stung an RBI double to make it a one-run game.
An intentional walk loaded the bases to put the double play in order, and the Sox got their wish on a grounder to second baseman Pablo Reyes, who fielded it cleanly and tossed to shortstop Kiké Hernández at the bag. But Hernández delivered an errant throw that snuck underneath the glove of first baseman Justin Turner and allowed the final two runs to score.
Arenado sent a towering solo home run to left field against Chris Sale to lead off the seventh inning. The run was the first allowed by Sale in the contest, making it a two-run game. The homer was just the third hit allowed by the lefthander.
The Cardinals were getting the ball in the air throughout the game, just missing their pitches. The Arenado blast could have been a sign that the Cardinals were finally on to Sale. That his outing would erode, as it has at times this year, because of one bad inning.
It didn’t.
Sale proceeded to strike out the side in order in the seventh. He made Juan Yepez look silly on a backfoot slider for his first victim of the frame. Dylan Carlson went down swinging on foul tip into the catcher’s mitt. Paul DeJong was Sale’s final casualty of the inning, striking out swinging on yet another slider.
Sale was greeted with a standing ovation from the fans as he walked off the hill, thinking his day was over.
It wasn’t.
Manager Alex Cora let Sale come back out for the eighth inning and Sale registered a 1-2-3 frame, throwing 110 pitches. His last one, resulting in a fly out to right, was clocked at 97 miles per hour.
The Sox offense scored three runs off Cardinals starter Steven Matz. Rafael Devers plated the Sox’ first run with an RBI single in the first inning. Then in the third, Rob Refsnyder’s two-run double made it a 3-0 game.