Up 2-1 in the World Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers have math on their side against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Here is one number, courtesy of closer Kenley Jansen, that could mean as much as any: 95.2.
After slumping for weeks with slipping velocity and toothless bite on his signature cutter, the big man at the back of LA’s bullpen delivered his hardest fastball in more than a month while closing out a Game 3 victory on Friday.
Photo: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY
The 95.2mph (153.2km) fastball that struck out All-Star Austin Meadows in the ninth was Jansen’s hardest since Sept. 2.
Despite allowing a homer to Randy Arozarena, the right-hander looked as if he has overcome the struggles that briefly cost him the closer’s job that he has held for years.
Thirty-eight of 59 previous teams who won Game 3 for a 2-1 lead in a World Series wound up lifting the trophy. Holding that advantage will be much easier if the Dodgers’ longtime closer has his best stuff.
Jansen has been a bullpen fixture for LA during their 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.
The right-hander has been good — if not quite great — for the past two years.
He became wholly unreliable early in this post-season. His velocity sagged late last month, and he topped out at just 91.3mph in his first playoff outing, a wild-card-round game against the Milwaukee 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 San Diego Padres in Game 2 of the NL Division Series. He was removed from the game and from the closer’s job entirely.
Jansen did not pitch at all in LA’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 Atlanta Braves in the NL Championship Series — albeit, without cracking 92mph.
Two nights later in Game 5, he struck out the side in the ninth inning of a non-save situation against the Braves, reaching 94.5mph.
He earned the save in Game 6, going 1-2-3 in the ninth with similar velocity.
Given five days off, Jansen returned on Friday with even more in the tank.
The homer aside, it was as promising an appearance as Jansen could have had.
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