Kenley Jansen gives up 2 runs in 9th in Angels' loss to Reds

Jeff Fletcher, The Orange County Register on Aug 20, 2025

Published in Baseball

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ANAHEIM — Kenley Jansen’s rough ninth inning spoiled a night that should have belonged to Jo Adell.

Adell hit a pair of homers in the seventh and eighth innings to help the Angels erase a three-run deficit, only for Jansen to give up two runs in the ninth in a 6-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night.

Jansen gave up two hits, issued a walk and hit a batter, a rare shaky outing for a pitcher who earlier this month ran his streak to 21 consecutive outings without allowing an earned run.

Something was off with Jansen enough to warrant a visit from head athletic trainer Mike Frostad during the ninth.

The Angels (60-66) then came up empty in the bottom of the ninth, losing for the fourth time in five games since sweeping the Dodgers last week.

Emotions turned quickly in this one.

The Angels were down 4-1 in the seventh, and doing nothing against Reds ace Hunter Greene, when Adell loudly got them back in the game.

Adell hit Greene’s first pitch of the seventh inning 452 feet, the longest homer of his major league career. Greene, who to that point that had been dominating with an assortment of 100 mph fastballs and sliders, threw Adell a 99 mph pitch, and it left Adell’s bat at 115 mph.

An out later, Travis d’Arnaud followed with a double, to knock Greene out of the game. Christian Moore and Zach Neto singled against reliever Grant Ashcraft in the seventh, cutting the deficit to 4-3.

An inning later, Adell tied the score with a two-out homer down the left-field line. This one was just 371 feet.

That homer spared Angels starter Kyle Hendricks from a loss on a night when he gave up four runs in six innings, mostly because of the Reds’ speed.

Hendricks gave up a solo homer to Noelvi Marte in the second inning. That was the only one of the eight hits that he allowed that had an exit velocity of more than 95 mph, which is the standard for a “hard hit.” Four of them were under 75 mph.

The bloopers were just slow enough to give the Reds time to run.

The score was 1-1 in the fourth when Elly De La Cruz fisted a bloop single into left field. Four pitches later, De La Cruz took off for second just as Miguel Andujar was dropping a flare inside the left field line. Left fielder Taylor Ward’s throw home wasn’t even close to getting De La Cruz.

Later in the inning, Marte dunked one into right field, driving in another run.

In the fifth, De La Cruz walked. Again, he took off for second as Andujar dropped one into the outfield. This time, center fielder Bryce Teodosio double-clutched after fielding the ball in right-center, and the relay throw home was too late to get De La Cruz.