Kenta Maeda picked up his first career save as a 9th-inning guy on Wednesday night, and he noted afterwards just how much different the experience was.
Maeda, who came to the Los Angeles Dodgers from Japan, has been a starter for most of his time with the team, though he has pitched in a relief role at times over the past two seasons. With Kenley Jansen struggling, manager Dave Roberts elected to have Maeda close out the 3-0 lead against the Texas Rangers on Wednesday.
The 30-year-old walked two and gave up a run-scoring double, but he escaped with a 3-1 win and his second career save. He said pitching the 9th inning was “special” and “different.”
#Dodgers Kenta Maeda on standing in for Jansen as closer: "Today, I definitely felt the 9th inning was a special inning and something different. … There's a sense of anxiety and a little bit of pressure to battle that is a little different."
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) August 30, 2018
Maeda was credited with his first career save in 2017 after pitching four effective relief innings, so this save came in much more common circumstances.
There has been a thought process recently that any good/effective reliever can be moved to the 9th inning to close out games and have success, but Maeda’s words may signify otherwise; the pressure of being a 9th-inning guy apparently is a lot different.
