Kenley Jansen became the first pitcher ever of Los Angeles Dodgers with four 30-save seasons. His save on Thursday was his 30th in 31 opportunities. The Curaçao native did not allow a base runner nor did he strike anyone out in this one.
At first it looked like the Dodgers wouldn’t need Kenley Jansen. They were leading Arizona Diamondbacks with 8-2 going into the sixth inning. But after the Diamondbacks rallied to within two runs, the closer was called on to finish off the game and in doing so made club history.
The four 30-save seasons of Jansen have been consecutive, for the moment making him the only pitcher in MLB with 30 saves each year from 2014-17. Aroldis Chapman saved 30 or more games five straight years from 2012-16, but has just 14 saves so far in 2017.
In Dodgers history, Jansen broke his tie with Todd Worrell and Eric Gagne, each of whom had three seasons of 30 or more saves. In all, there have only been 14 Dodgers seasons with 30 or more saves, accomplished by six different pitchers.
All of Gagne’s 30-save seasons featured at least 45 saves. He is the only Dodgers pitcher with three 40-save seasons, though with 10 more in 2017 Jansen could match him. Jansen saved 44 games in 2014 and 47 more in 2016.
Jansen on Thursday induced two pop outs and a ground out to close out the Diamondbacks, and on the season sports a 1.25 ERA in 48 games, with 77 strikeouts and five walks in 50⅓ innings. Opposing batters are hitting just .156/.188/.235 against Jansen this season.