DENVER — The Dodgers reached their hotel here after 4 a.m. Thursday and reported to Coors Field fewer than 12 hours later. Closer Kenley Jansen did not. He called the team’s training staff from his room and reported an irregular heartbeat. After an examination at a Colorado hospital, he flew back to Los Angeles to visit with his cardiologist Friday.
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He won’t pitch during the three games that remain in this weekend series against the Rockies. Beyond that, the Dodgers don’t yet know his prognosis. He has missed several weeks with similar issues in seasons past.
“He’s feeling pretty normal right now, from what we understand,” general manager Farhan Zaidi said late Thursday. “But, obviously, it’s too soon to tell any sort of timetable or how long he might be out.”
Before Thursday, Jansen had four reported episodes related to his heart, two of them in this city. In July 2011, his heart fluttered during pregame workouts. He pitched anyway and felt like he was going to pass out with every pitch. At an L.A. hospital that night, he learned he had atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat that increases risks of stroke and heart disease.
He did not respond to medication, so doctors put him under anesthesia and performed electrical cardioversion, shocking his heart back into its normal rhythm. Because he was administered blood-thinning medication, he missed a month, the risks of an injury while on the medication too great.
In March 2012, he felt an irregular heartbeat, left spring training to see a doctor, and returned the next day. Then, in August 2012, he felt his heart beat out of pace again, at Coors Field. He was again prescribed blood thinners and off-season surgery to correct it, and he missed three weeks. Back in Colorado in June 2015, he experienced high blood pressure, headaches and fatigue, which doctors attributed to the altitude. He feared it was related to his condition, but he was quickly cleared to pitch.
“Even though I had the heart surgery, there’s still a chance of A-fib, particularly at high elevation,” Jansen told reporters then. “In the beginning, you feel like, all that memory, all the stuff that happened to you, ‘Here we go again.’”
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In 2015, then-manager Don Mattingly learned of Jansen’s status midway through a tight game the Dodgers went on to lose. On Thursday, manager Dave Roberts learned Jansen would be unavailable well before first pitch, and he went about his pitching plan accordingly in an 8-5 win over the Rockies.
Roberts received six strong innings from Ross Stripling in his return from a 10-day break on the disabled list. The manager then asked Pedro Báez to hold a two-run seventh-inning lead. That failed. Rookie left-hander Caleb Ferguson replaced Báez with the Rockies up two, got out of the inning, and returned for the eighth with the score tied. He finished that, too, but not without a scare. He threw a 3-2 fastball down the middle to Nolan Arenado, who swung with all his might. The contact produced a pronounced sound, and Ferguson sunk into a crouch.
He was sure it was a home run. But it didn’t even reach the warning track.
“That ball was so fucking loud,” Ferguson said. “I thought it was in the fucking forest.”
Scott Alexander handled the ninth inning, earning his second save this season. Two months ago, he started one game at Coors Field, as the Dodgers tried to ease rookie Dennis Santana’s transition to the major leagues. Now, he’s closed one. The Dodgers (64-52) adapted, for the night at least. They bashed five late home runs, two in pinch-hit spots, against Colorado’s rocky bullpen.
As several Dodgers readied to walk back to their hotel, they waited for Alexander to finish speaking to reporters and packing his things, playing up their teammate’s substitute starring role.
“What’s up, closer,” Cody Bellinger said.
(Top photo: John McCoy/Getty Images)