While the Boston Red Sox finished with the best record in baseball, their postseason began somewhat ominously as Craig Kimbrel allowed at least one earned run in each of his first four appearances.
Despite that, Kimbrel converted all four save opportunities during the stretch, which included throwing two innings against the Houston Astros in a dramatic Game 4 of the American League Championship Series.
Kimbrel snapped his streak of allowing a run the following day, helping the Red Sox eliminate the defending World Series champions. Weeks of frustration for Kimbrel and the Red Sox appears to have been solved by former Los Angeles Dodgers closer Eric Gagne, which adds another layer to their World Series matchup.
Gagne alerted former teammate and current Red Sox manager Alex Cora that Kimbrel was tipping his pitches. That led to the right-hander correcting the issue in time for his save in Game 5 of the ALCS.
Without divulging details, Kimbrel shed some insight into the role Gagne played, as seen on MLB Network:
“It’s something I’ve struggled with on and off throughout my entire career. Obviously, that’s something that’s looked for throughout the game. I got a text message from Eric Gagne, and good friend of Alex Cora’s, and he said, ‘Hey, I want to point out you’re doing this and this and you should go look at it.’ I did, and it worked out. … I changed my hand placement to let things be a little bit more comfortable and it worked out.”
Kimbrel finished the regular season with 42 saves, a 2.74 ERA, 3.13 FIP and 0.99 WHIP in 63 games. He pitched through the reality of his infant daughter recovering from heart surgery in February.
Kimbrel owns the second-highest career save percentage (90.7 percent) in MLB history, has allowed the third-lowest opponent’s batting average (.146) and is fifth in strikeouts per nine innings (13.66).
He infamously was left in the bullpen by the Atlanta Braves during the 2013 National League Division Series, which in part may have led to Juan Uribe hitting a series-clinching home run. It’s safe to assume Kimbrel will now get a shot at redemption, with much high stakes.
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