For a couple of weeks, Braves closer Kenley Jansen, on the injured list because of an irregular heartbeat, had to watch games at home while taking blood thinners. He couldn’t be in the dugout with his teammates.
The Braves on Wednesday reinstated Jansen, who pitched a clean eighth inning in a loss to the Mets. This wasn’t the outcome for which he hoped, but he felt happy to be back.
“The hardest part of being away is you can do everything, but you can’t be in games,” Jansen said after the game. “You got to avoid any contact because it’s dangerous to be on blood thinners. That’s the hardest part is because you know you’re normal, everything is fine, you just have to sit at home and watch the game.”
In a corresponding move, the Braves placed Darren O’Day on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to July 12, with a strained left calf muscle. It occurred when O’Day was hit by a comebacker while pitching in Monday’s game versus the Mets.
In the eighth inning, New York’s Tomás Nido hit a 97 mph line drive right toward O’Day’s left leg. O’Day allowed a home run in that inning.
The Braves have their closer back. Even with the injured list stint, Jansen still ranks third in baseball with 20 saves. He has four blown saves, but has been a great signing thus far. He has allowed 13 earned runs in 33-2/3 innings.
Jansen had dealt with an irregular heartbeat before this. He knew what to expect, and the process went as expected.
“This is not my first rodeo,” he said. “It’s happened a few times now. You get used to it. You can say you just got to use your experience and don’t let it drive you crazy. Even if it drove me crazy, I just tried to calm myself down because a part of you wants to be with your teammates and wants to be out there, but there’s nothing you can do about it. Now that I’m back, it’s fun.”
Without Jansen, the Braves’ bullpen pitched well. In the time he was on the injured list, the Braves’ bullpen ranked seventh in baseball with a 3.04 ERA. The group tallied the eighth-most strikeouts (56) and tied for the seventh-best batting average against (.215) of any bullpen in baseball.
Before the Braves went this route, there seemed to be a couple of different ways they could’ve added Jansen. Both had their downsides.
Left-hander Dylan Lee has minor-league options, but has allowed only three earned runs over 20 innings. He’s become a solid option out of the bullpen for manager Brian Snitker, who has deployed Lee in different ways.
And had the Braves removed Jackson Stephens from the roster, they would have had to designate him for assignment because he’s out of options. He’s pitched in 21 games and has allowed 10 earned runs over 28-2/3 innings. The Braves have used Stephens in low leverage and high leverage, but he’s only pitched six times since June 14.
The Braves on June 28 placed Jansen on the injured list, retroactive to June 27, with the irregular heartbeat. He has managed this issue for a long time.
O’Day, the 39-year-old righty, has surrendered 10 earned runs in 21-2/3 innings.
Showalter respects Snitker
Mets manager Buck Showalter remembers talking to John Hart, the Braves’ former president of baseball operations, after the Braves made Snitker their manager. Showalter’s message was “Brian, he’s the right guy for that situation.”
“And now that they’ve turned the corner, Brian is perfect,” Showalter said before Wednesday’s game. “I’ve had a lot of respect for him and the way he’s going about it. He’s another one of those guys that you go, ‘I bet you’ve never seen that before.’ He goes, ‘Oh yeah I have. Winter ball, instructional league.’
“I think that’s why he has such a great relationship (with people) is because he’s got great people skills. He’s a guy I pull for – except when we play.”
Like Snitker, Showalter is 66 years old. They are old-school baseball minds in the modern-day game.
The Braves have won four consecutive division titles and a World Series.
McHugh in multi-inning situations
In Tuesday’s win over the Mets, righty Collin McHugh hurled two scoreless innings.
This season, he has gone multiple scoreless innings out of the bullpen 12 times. Those 12 such appearances are the most in the National League and the fourth most in baseball.
Since 2009, only three Braves pitchers have had more scoreless multi-inning appearances in an entire season.
Funny moment about Maddux
At one point during Showalter’s pregame meeting with reporters, a conversation about defensive metrics began. Showalter, colorful and funny as ever, gave his thoughts on that and defense as a whole.
“We got the Gold Glove a lot better than it used to be,” Showalter said. “I still haven’t figured out how they evaluate the pitchers for Gold Gloves.
Then he brought up Hall of Famer Greg Maddux. Showalter said he once said on the air as a broadcaster that he never voted for Maddux, who won 18 Gold Glove Awards, for the Gold Glove.
The reason: Maddux couldn’t hold runners.
“That’s part of playing defense as a pitcher,” Showalter said. “If a shortstop couldn’t release the ball quickly, he wouldn’t get a Gold Glove.”
Showalter was on a show with John Smoltz, another Braves legend, when he said he never voted for Maddux.
Smoltz joked and, per Showalter, said: “We’ve been saying that to him for years!”
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