The Detroit Tigers turned to Kenley Jansen in the eighth inning Wednesday, a sign they may be adjusting how they use the veteran reliever after an uneven first two months of the season. Jansen worked through the inning without giving up a run, but the night still slipped away when Will Vest blew the save in the ninth and the Tigers fell to the Cleveland Guardians.
Manager A.J. Hinch brought Jansen into a one-run lead with the top of Cleveland’s order due in the eighth, then handed the save chance to Vest in the ninth. Vest allowed two hits and the tying run, taking his second blown save of the season. Jansen walked one hitter but escaped unscathed, and the outing extended a sharp run in May that has changed the conversation around his role.
That shift matters because the Tigers spent the offseason targeting Jansen as a bullpen upgrade and expected him to anchor the back end. Through the first two months of the season, he had three blown saves, a rough start for a pitcher brought in to provide certainty in the late innings. But including Wednesday’s outing, Jansen has six scoreless appearances in May and has struck out 10 of the 19 hitters he has faced this month.
The numbers help explain why an immediate change to his role looks less likely now than it did earlier in the year. The Tigers’ bullpen was strengthened as an offseason priority, and Jansen was supposed to be the stabilizing finish to it. On Wednesday, though, Hinch’s choice also reflected the matchup in front of him, with Cleveland’s top of the lineup waiting in the eighth and the manager choosing to use his best late-inning option before the save situation arrived.
That left Vest with the final crack at the game, and he could not hold it. For the Tigers, the loss was a reminder that the bullpen still has to prove itself in the biggest spots, even with Jansen beginning to look more like the arm they expected when they went after him last winter.
