Kenley

Jansen

The 38-year-old hurler has been shelved for the past couple of weeks due to a groin issue. He should step right back in as the Tigers’ primary closer with Will Vest shifting back to a setup role.

Jansen threw 22 pitches in his first rehab outing since hitting the injured list with pelvic inflammation back on May 28. The 38-year-old veteran stopper’s velocity was on par with his previous levels and he figures to be ready to return to Detroit’s bullpen later this week.

Jansen is expected to head out on a brief minor league rehab assignment next week. The 38-year-old veteran stopper hit the injured list with pelvic inflammation back on May 28. His return will shore up the back-end of Detroit’s bullpen.

Kyle Finnegan and Will Vest would appear to be the options to replace Jansen, with Finnegan the vastly preferred one since he’s pitching much better at the moment. It wouldn’t be surprising if this became a committee while Jansen is out. There’s no word yet on how long we should expect Jansen to miss, but it wouldn’t be surprising if this injury knocked him out longer than the minimum stay on the injured list.

Jansen was checked on by a trainer early on while protecting a four-run lead in the ninth inning, but managed to stay in the contest. He recorded two quick outs before issuing a four-pitch walk to Mike Trout, which led to his removal from the contest. Brenan Hanifee came on to record the final out following his departure. The 38-year-old veteran stopper will undergo further evaluation and possibly imaging to determine the severity of the issue. Kyle Finnegan would be the next man up should Jansen require a trip to the injured list.

Not great. Jansen was lifted from the ninth inning of a save situation after issuing a two-out walk to Mike Trout. There should be an update on his status shortly. Brenan Hanifee came on to record the final out following his departure.

Jansen was called upon to bail out Kyle Finnegan with two outs in the eighth inning and he was able to get Pete Alonso on a pop out to end the inning. He had trouble in the ninth though, issuing one-out walks to Jackson Holliday and Leody Taveras. He then allowed a pair of stolen bases to put both runners in scoring position for Cowser. Jansen got ahead of him 0-2 before grooving a sinker that Cowser pulverized. Jansen has now converted just seven of his first 11 save chances on the season.

This wound up being a strange situation because Tigers manager A.J. Hinch opted to use closer Kenley Jansen against the heart of Cleveland’s lineup to protect a one-run lead in the eighth inning before giving the ball to Vest to face the bottom of the order. That gambit backfired as Vest surrendered back-to-back singles to Daniel Schneemann and Travis Bazzana before Patrick Bailey delivered a game-tying ground out a couple batters later. He managed to strike out Brayan Rocchio to preserve a tie ballgame, but the damage was already done. Cleveland went on to score a couple runs in extra-innings and close out a comeback win.

Jansen made it look easy in this one, retiring all three hitters that he faced including punchouts of Yohendrick Pinedo and Kazuma Okamoto. He then became the beneficiary when the Tigers walked it off in the bottom of the frame. For the season, the 38-year-old closer holds a 3.97 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and a 17/5 K/BB ratio across 11 1/3 innings while converting seven of his first 10 save chances.

Jansen closed out a bullpen game which featured six Tigers pitchers, with none of them throwing more than 2 1/3 innings. It’s Jansen’s seventh save of the year and 483rd all-time.