Jansen's revamped cutter takes down Trout, Ohtani

BOSTON -- Kenley Jansen wasn’t being vain when he spent most of his offseason workouts watching videos of himself on two separate televisions at his home gym.

What the veteran closer was trying to do was channel back to the best years of his career with the Dodgers, when he was one of the top closers in the game.

At the age of 35, Jansen didn’t sign with the Red Sox hoping to be what he was the last 2-3 years, which was still a pretty good closer. He wanted to get back to being elite.

And that’s how Jansen looked in an electric ninth inning at Fenway Park on Friday night, earning his first home save for the Red Sox in a 5-3 victory over the Angels.

To put his team back in the winner’s circle after a rough four-game sweep at Tropicana Field, all Jansen had to do was get through Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani.

“From when I walked out from the bullpen, the crowd fed into it,” Jansen said. “That definitely gets me going. It’s definitely fun out there. You’re facing definitely the best hitters in the game and I got out of it. So it’s definitely a good feeling, especially [because it was] my first save at Fenway, so that's a good one.”

Jansen hasn’t allowed a run in his first four appearances with his new team, three of them saves. This is what he was envisioning in the winter while he multitasked furiously during his workouts.

“A lot of stretching this offseason putting my hips in better positions,” said Jansen. “Opening up my [thoracic] spine through all that and also just watching a lot of videos from 2012, ’13, ’14 to see how my body was into it. Every time I was in the gym, my TV was on those videos. I have two TVs in my gym and while I’m working out, I’m watching my highlights and my outings and just trying to get back to what I was when I was at my best.”

Trout and Ohtani, now a combined 1-for-16 with 12 strikeouts against the veteran closer, were witnesses to the fruits of Jansen’s offseason labor.

Up first was Trout, who got overpowered by Jansen’s cutter, which seared in at 95.8 mph on the final pitch of the four-pitch at-bat that ended in a swinging strikeout.

Then came Ohtani. With the count 1-1, Jansen blew a 94.7 mph cutter by him. The sellout crowd anticipating the punchout, Jansen reached back and froze the DH on a 95.9 mph cutter. At that point, career save No. 394 seemed to be a certainty. Anthony Rendon provided a brief delay with a bloop single to center.

The potential tying run was Hunter Renfroe, but Jansen disposed of him on three straight pitches, going away from his cutter and firing a slider past him to end the game and set off a light show at Fenway.

“He works so hard and he understands how his pitches have to play and you get to see him when he throws his sessions,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “It’s intense because he understands everything that goes into it and today, that was fun to watch. I know he enjoyed it.”

The added life on Jansen’s cutter so far this season is backed up by data. In 2022, his cutter averaged 92.2 mph. So far this season, it’s at 95.1.

“His stuff is kind of invisible, to be honest with you,” said Cora. “The other day, I stood in the bullpen and I saw it and I was like, ‘Wow. It's just a different pitch.’ At this velocity, it’s impressive.”

With a 6-8 record so far, the Red Sox haven’t been able to utilize their new closer as much as they’d like. But Jansen’s addition to the team gives Cora and the players the most comfort in the ninth inning with a lead the team has had since Craig Kimbrel was closing games for Boston in 2018.

“He always looks good, but his ball was really cutting today,” said winning pitcher Josh Winckowski, who fired three strong innings in relief. “It looked like he was throwing really, really hard. It was a pleasure to watch him tonight. He looked extra nasty tonight.”

Jansen said he is even surprised how much his velocity has gone up early in the season.

“I’m loving it and I’m going to keep riding it,” Jansen said.