Kenley Jansen blew another save to ruin an epic Braves comeback and Brian Snitker still defended him

It was easy to miss amid all the Week 1 NFL action, but the Atlanta Braves and Seattle Mariners played one of the wilder games of the MLB season on Sunday.

With the Braves trailing by four runs and down to their final strike, Atlanta had a five-run, two-out rally to astonishingly take the lead on the Mariners in the ninth. They just needed closer Kenley Jansen to pitch a clean bottom half to leave Seattle with an improbable series win.

Jansen would give Atlanta anything but that.

After getting the first out in the ninth, Jansen gave up a pair of home runs — one to Julio Rodriguez and a walk-off shot to Eugenio Suarez — as the Mariners escaped with an 8-7 win.

Now, the Braves acquired Kenley Jansen in the offseason because they believed that the longtime Dodgers closer had the ability to take Atlanta’s bullpen to the next level. They demoted Will Smith to a set-up role before trading him at the deadline, but as Jansen started to struggle, the acquisition of Raisel Iglesias seemed to signal uncertainty about Jansen.

You just wouldn’t pick up on that notion by hearing what manager Brian Snitker had to say after the game.

When asked about Jansen’s latest blown save, Snitker defended his closer and pointed out that Jansen leads the league in saves. And sure, Jansen does lead the league in saves — he’s also second in blown saves.

But just like pitcher win-loss record, that stat can be deceptive as Jansen has still allowed runs in seven of those saves. The fact is that in Jansen’s past seven appearances, he has an 11.12 ERA with three homers and seven earned runs allowed. He’s blown three saves in that span and appears to be getting worse with each appearance.

In a pennant race with the now-NL East-leading New York Mets, a dependable closer is key. So while Snitker wasn’t going to throw Jansen under the bus to the media, Braves fans were still frustrated with the latest defense of Jansen.