Kenley Jansen got an easy save in the Atlanta Braves’ 5-2 win over the San Diego Padres on Saturday, but that doesn’t mean his appearance didn’t have some rockiness to it.
Jansen was prevented from taking a full amount of warmup pitches prior to pitching the bottom of the ninth. Umpire Bill Miller allowed Jansen three warmup pitches before stepping in to force the inning to begin.
Home plate umpire Bill Miller refuses to let Kenley Jansen throw any additional warmup pitches.
Brian Snitker and Ron Washington have to step in. pic.twitter.com/T6DF0wi7oA
— Braves On FanDuel Sports Network (@FanDuelSNBraves) April 16, 2022
Miller said that Jansen was out of time and forced him to start pitching without getting his full eight warmup pitches.
For those wondering about argument at end, ump told Kenley he was out of time and couldn't keep warming up. Snit said that was BS because they stopped him coming in to check for sticky substances as they do all closers, and he needed to throw a couple more warmup pitches, etc.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) April 16, 2022
Jansen began by throwing a ball to Manny Machado but eventually struck out the Padres third baseman. He went 1-2-3 for his second save of the season.
Was Kenley robbed? If you think about it, he should be fully warmed up after pitching in the bullpen. He should only need a few pitches on the actual mound before being ready.
Kenley not getting his full set of warmups kind of stinks, but it’s not nearly as bad as the three-plus hours the average MLB game took last season. Credit to Miller for enforcing this to help speed along the game.
