Immaculate inning takes Jansen by surprise
Dodgers teammates inform closer of historic feat
LOS ANGELES -- Kenley Jansen finished his work Thursday night and was congratulated by teammates for another first, an immaculate inning: nine pitches, nine strikes, three strikeouts. The only problem was, Jansen didn't know what they were talking about.
"They had to explain it to me," said Jansen, who fanned Derek Dietrich, J.T. Riddle and Ichiro Suzuki to finish off his fourth four-out save this season in the Dodgers' 7-2 win over the Marlins at Dodger Stadium and the 79th immaculate inning in MLB history.
"I've been pitching seven or eight years and I just don't know what that is. But now I know and it's awesome. That probably won't happen that often. Lucky I did it, I guess."
Not much about Jansen is lucky this year. He has eight saves, a ridiculous 32 strikeouts with no walks in 16 innings and he even notched an infield single while the Dodgers were adding a pair of insurance runs in the eighth inning, his second MLB hit and first since 2010.
"It was funny today," Jansen said. "Fun out there, just go and swing the bat. Definitely, I love to hit. It's fun to win games."
Jansen was the fourth reliever after starter Hyun-Jin Ryu. Chris Hatcher, Luis Avilan, Josh Fields and Jansen combined to record strikeouts for 10 of the final 11 outs.