Holes open in closer
Kimbrel’s struggles continue in key loss
October isn’t an ideal time for a pitcher to correct a mechanical flaw, but that’s at the top of Craig Kimbrel’s to-do list with the Red Sox four days away from postseason play.
Kimbrel struggled with his command for the third consecutive outing, and the closer took the loss as the Sox fell, 4-3, to the Blue Jays last night at Fenway Park.
With the defeat, the Red Sox (93-68) dropped a halfgame behind the Indians (93-67) in the chase for the No. 2 seed and home-field advantage in the ALDS. If the teams finish with the same record, the Sox own the tiebreaker, as they won the season series, 4-2.
With Koji Uehara unavailable, manager John Farrell summoned Kimbrel for the top of the ninth in a 3-3 game.
In his previous two appearances, Kimbrel had walked five and thrown more balls than strikes. Looking to get back on track, his command issues immediately resurfaced as he walked Michael Saunders to start the frame.
“Leadoff walk, you never want to do,” Kimbrel said.
Dalton Pompey came on as a pinch runner, and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. With No. 9 hitter Ezequiel Carrera at the plate, Kimbrel and Christian Vazquez got their signs crossed. A high fastball sailed to the backstop, and Pompey advanced to third. Carrera scored him on a sac fly, and Kimbrel was tagged with the loss without giving up a hit.
The flamethrower was dominant for much of August and September, going 16 straight games without allowing an earned run. The coaching staff thinks they’ve already identified his problem.
“The last three outings, he’s just getting a little out of posture with his upper body, causing him to get rotational,” pitching coach Carl Willis said. “The stuff is still there.”
For a pitcher of Kimbrel’s nature, Willis believes it’ll be a quick fix.
“In his case, I think a couple things,” Willis said. “With his experience but also with the type of pitcher he is, he doesn’t have to have pinpoint accuracy with his stuff. So I think it’s something we’ll correct very quickly.”
This isn’t the first time Kimbrel has dealt with the posture issue, it’s just the most inopportune one.
“I think every pitcher deals with something, kind of a click they have to pay attention to and it comes around,” Kimbrel said. “But I’ll get it squared away, you don’t have to worry about that.”
Kimbrel’s “click” comes from trying to get some extra velocity on his fastball. With the ALDS looming, the closer is still confident.
“Absolutely,” Kimbrel said. “I want the ball.”
His manager’s faith hasn’t been shaken, either. Farrell hasn’t considered Uehara for the closer’s role, and he’s still planning to call on Kimbrel.
“Yes,” Farrell said. “Even in a tie game, a situation like (last night).”
The story of Eduardo Rodriguez’ 2016 season continued in the loss, as the lefty was inconsistently brilliant.
When Rodriguez was in the strike zone, his stuff was electric. He struck out nine, and only had one ball leave the infield in five-plus innings of work.
He just wasn’t in the strike zone often enough.
Chris Young gave him a 2-0 cushion in the first, but when a cool rain began to pick up in the second, Rodriguez walked three Jays in a row. Kevin Pillar tied the game with a two-run single. Pillar added another RBI single off of Matt Barnes in the sixth to put the Jays ahead 3-2.
“The weather got me a little bit with the first hitters,” Rodriguez said.
The slick conditions also affected David Ortiz in his final homestand, and Farrell removed him in the sixth inning as a precaution.
It looked like the tailspinning Blue Jays were on the verge of implosion in the eighth. With Mookie Betts on third, Roberto Osuna balked in the tying run that set up the ninth for Kimbrel.