On Wednesday afternoon, as the Dodgers lounged before a game at PNC Park, Yasiel Puig offered a challenge to Kenley Jansen: $500,000 if Jansen could solve a Rubik’s Cube lying around the visitors’ clubhouse. The wager was not serious; Jansen still pondered it as Puig left the room. “I have until the ninth inning,” Jansen mused.
A day later, in the eighth inning of an 8-7 victory over the Pirates, Jansen confronted a different sort of puzzle. The Dodgers needed him to collect the final five outs of a game that had sapped an already depleted bullpen. Handcuffed by a last-minute injury to rookie starting pitcher Dennis Santana, manager Dave Roberts called on nine different relievers in Thursday’s series finale.