Danny Jansen made his debut behind the plate for Boston in the Red Sox’s dramatic walk-off win over the Seattle Mariners at Fenway Park on Wednesday.
The newly acquired catcher had his first significant hit in a Red Sox uniform when his single to right in the bottom of the sixth inning knocked in Dominic Smith and tied the game, 2-2.
“It was great,” Jansen told reporters at Fenway Park. “I was looking to help out any way I could to get a good pitch there to get (Dominic) in. It just happened to be a fastball away.”
After knocking in the tying run and going 2-for-4 from the plate, Jansen did his best to preserve the tie in the top of the ninth inning when he made a spectacular circus catch in foul territory for the first out of the inning.
“I think it’ll make some memories, and we’ll laugh about it,” Jansen said. “Definitely didn’t have to be that hard.”
Red Sox manager Alex Cora was pleased with how Jansen called his first game for Boston.
“Good game by him, behind the plate. It’s not that easy, especially with the relievers,” Cora told reporters.”The communication between (pitching coach Andrew Bailey, (game planning coordinator Jason Varitek), all the work before the game and during the game too with (Connor Wong), it was great. He did an outstanding job.”
