DETROIT -- Kenley Jansen has never put his individual milestones over the value of winning, not since joining the Tigers as a free agent over the winter, not when he tied Lee Smith for third on the all-time saves list earlier this month. On Tuesday, as the Tigers celebrated their 2-1 comeback win over the Royals, his teammates gave him little choice but to celebrate his 479th save.
In the midst of the Tigers’ postgame celebration, they had their veteran closer make a speech to the team.
“The speech he gave to the team after, it was really cool to listen,” said Kevin McGonigle, whose go-ahead run on Dillon Dingler’s two-out double in the eighth inning sent Jansen to work. “He talked about his career, and how it was a grind. It’s easy to quit, but never give up. Guys like that, you’ve got to listen, anytime they talk.”
“He said he’s had a lot of adversity and been through a lot of things,” said Zach McKinstry, who scored the tying run earlier in the eighth. “I mean, he started his career as a catcher. He’s come a long way and worked through some things.
“I’ve been with him with the Dodgers and just watching him go about his business. We’d be down in the weight room in like the sixth inning of a game, and he’d be just going through his motion, trying to work on stuff, trying to make himself feel better. And today, he was throwing 96. He looked really good. Super cool to be a little part of it.”
Jansen was warming in the eighth inning with the Tigers down a run, just to be ready in case of a comeback. Once Dingler doubled home McGonigle, it was Jansen’s task to make the Tigers’ first lead of the night stick.
It wouldn’t be easy. Lane Thomas’ leadoff single and ensuing stolen base put the potential tying run in scoring position with nobody out. Salvador Perez’s groundout moved him to third.
Jansen needed a strikeout or a soft out to hold Thomas at third. So with slugger Vinnie Pasquantino at the plate, he mixed things up. After a 96 mph cutter at the top of the zone for a called first strike, Jansen threw a sinker just above the zone that Pasquantino fouled off.
With an 0-2 count, Jansen got Pasquantino to chase a slider off the plate and just above the dirt. Pasquantino got to it, but for a ground ball to a drawn-in McKinstry at second base, forcing Thomas to hold as McKinstry threw to first.
“There you have to make pitches and be smart,” Jansen said. “Don't be stubborn in situations like that. I know my bread and butter pitch the majority of the time is the cutter, but thank God today the secondary pitches worked very well. It's a good team that normally doesn't strike out a lot, but they show up trying to put the ball in play, don't try to do too much, try to tie the game up. I have to be smart and make pitches to keep the lead. And I did.”
Up came Starling Marte, an old foe from their days in the National League. Jansen tried to pitch him carefully with cutters, loading the count, then threw a 3-2 slider that Marte popped up to shallow center.
With that, only Hall of Famers Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman have more saves than Jansen in the history of the Major Leagues.
“It's awesome,” Jansen said. “It tells me that no matter the adversity you go through in life, in your baseball career, at some point, you think you're done, but you always have that fight in you. You just have to keep believing in yourself, even if you don't that day. When you do that, man, it doesn't matter what people think about you or if they think that you might not have it no more. It shows you the consistency. Here I am today, still doing it on a really good level. I'm proud of myself, proud of my teammates today to grind this game out.”