History repeated itself Tuesday night at Busch Stadium, with the St. Louis Cardinals jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning on Kenta Maeda and the Los Angeles Dodgers. But from that point forward, just like last week, the Dodgers took control of the game.
Los Angeles not only erased their deficit in the third inning, but they took a lead that was never relinquished. Three runs in the fifth extended their lead to 7-3. Maeda was removed after four innings in favor of a pinch-hitter.
Brandon Morrow, Sergio Romo, Adam Liberatore, Pedro Baez, Chris Hatcher and Kenley Jansen combined to allow just one run over five innings.
Jansen began to warm up in the top of the ninth, at a time when Los Angeles held a 7-4 lead. They went on to score two runs, preventing Jansen from entering in a save opportunity. It’s become a trend of late.
Because of that, the Dodgers offense left their closer with an apology and his favorite snacks to make up for the lack games with which Jansen could’ve earned a save. He shared the gesture on Twitter:
Thanks for the snacks, guys. @dodgers – First place ????Love, Kenleys pic.twitter.com/iq0CTXCjg5
— Kenley Jansen (@kenleyjansen74) May 31, 2017
Jansen threw a perfect ninth inning on eight pitches. He began the season converting multiple four-out saves, though last registered a save May 18. Jansen has appeared in four games since that point.
This season, the power right-hander owns a 1.35 ERA, 0.65 WHIP, and has 35 strikeouts to zero walks in 20 innings in as many games.
Yasiel Puig, Justin Turner and Alex Wood were among those to share a photo of Jansen and his indulgences on Instagram or Twitter. For Jansen, who notoriously maintains a low profile on social media, it was just his third tweet of the year.
