RAYS RALLY IN 9TH, EVEN SERIES
Tampa Bay scores 2 runs in last inning on a wild play to stun Jansen, Dodgers
The Rays evened the World Series at 2 with a wild ninth inning Saturday.
Brett Phillips singled to score the tying run. Chris Taylor bobbled the ball, giving Randy Arozarena the chance to score, but he fell down the third- base line. He eventually scored when the relay throw eluded catcher Will Smith to give Tampa Bay an 8- 7 victory over the Dodgers.
Kevin Kiermaier scored the tying run. Kenley Jansen blew the save for the Dodgers.
Jansen had pitched well Friday. His 95.2 mph fastball that struck out All- Star Austin Meadows in the ninth in Game 3 was Jansen’s hardest since Sept. 2. Despite allowing a homer to Randy Arozarena, the righty looked as if he had overcome the struggles that briefly cost him the closer’s job he has held for years.
Thirty- eight of the 59 previous teams that won Game 3 for a 2- 1 Series lead wound up lifting the championship trophy. Holding that advantage will be much easier if the
Dodgers’ longtime closer has his best stuff.
Jansen has been a bullpen fixture for L. A. during its run of eight straight National League West titles, but the 33- year- old’s stuff began to back up in 2018, the same season he was sidelined by an irregular heartbeat that prompted corrective heart surgery that November. He has been good the last two years.
He became wholly unreliable early in this postseason. His velocity sagged in late September, and he topped out at 91.3 mph in his first playoff outing, a wild- card game against the Brewers on Sept. 30 in which he escaped with a save despite poor stuff and command.
A week later, he allowed two runs and nearly blew a three- run lead against the Padres in Game 2 of the NL Division Series. He was removed from the game — and from the closer’s job entirely.
Jansen didn’t pitch at all in L. A.’ s next three games, taking a week off in which he and the coaching staff studied his mechanics and tried to get him on track.
He re- emerged with a scoreless 10- pitch outing during a blowout win against the Braves in the NL Championship Series — albeit, without cracking 92 mph. Two nights later in Game 5, he struck out the side in the
ninth inning of a non- save situation, reaching 94.5 mph. He earned the save in Game 6, going 1- 2- 3 in the ninth with similar velocity.
Given five days off, Jansen returned Friday with even more in the tank.
He started with a three- pitch strikeout of Meadows capped by his best heater. Then he threw two quick strikes to another All- Star, Brandon Lowe, before Lowe popped out.
Jansen worked a 3- 2 count to Arozarena, a fastball- hunting breakout star this fall, before the rookie turned on a center- cut sinker and drove it out for a solo homer. Ji- Man Choi flied out three pitches later to end it.