Who will win the MLB end-of-season awards?
Kenley Jansen made his last pitch this season one of his best.
The Red Sox closer reared back with two strikes to Minnesota's Jose Miranda and fired his trademark cutter: 96.1 mph.
Miranda swung and miss, not only closing out a Red Sox' 8-1 win in Game 1 of what would be their doubleheader sweep over the Twins, but also potentially punctuating his time as a Red Sox.
After the Sox' 9-3 win in Game 2, Alex Cora announced Jansen would likely be going on the injured list with a sore shoulder. According to a major league source, rookie Chase Shugart is slated to replace the closer on the Sox' active roster.
The final offering in the walk-off strikeout was the second-fastest pitch thrown by Jansen this season, trailing only behind a 96.6 mph cutter on June 2. But even more memorable was that it represented walk could very well be Jansen's final time in a Red Sox uniform.
The 36-year-old is eligible to become a free agent, coming to the end of his two-year, $32 million deal with the Red Sox.
Jansen will be finishing this season having gone 27-for-31 in save opportunities, striking out 62 and walking 20 in his 54 2/3 innings. The reliever's ERA in 2024 finishes at 3.24, with a 1.06 WHIP and .575 OPS against.
For his two-year tenure in Boston, Jansen went 56-for-64 in save opportunities, striking out 114 and walking 37. His final ERA with the Sox stands at 3.44 with an OPS-against of .629. The team's record when he pitched was 79-26.
During Jansen's two-year stretch with the Red Sox they possessed the 10th-best save percentage in Major League Baseball (65.9 percent).
The decision to commit to both Chris Martin and Jansen proved a solid move by former chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, with the Red Sox going a combined 146-56 in games one or both of the veterans pitched.
Rookie Justin Slaten will likely get the first opportunity for saves in the final six games of the regular season, with the Red Sox four games out of the final wild card spot as they start a three-game series in Toronto.