Yahoo Sports Craig Kimbrel is sorry about all the 'heart attack' playoff outings
When Boston Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel ran out of the bullpen on Thursday night to close out Game 5 of the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros, fans everywhere held their collective breath. Kimbrel had been less than reliable in the playoffs so far, allowing five runs on six hits in just 5.1 innings. The Red Sox had a three-run lead, but victory was far from guaranteed.
Fourteen pitches later, everyone exhaled. Kimbrel nailed down the save and the win, which sent the Red Sox to the World Series. It’s almost like he fixed himself overnight, which is essentially what he did. But one good outing doesn’t erase what came before, and Kimbrel made sure fans knew he’d heard their anguished cries.
Craig Kimbrel is sorry about his shaky playoffs
After the Red Sox celebrated their final out and their upcoming trip to the World Series, Kimbrel sat in front of a microphone to answer questions from the media. But first, he wanted to apologize. To everyone. Via MassLive:
“I’m sorry that I gave quite a few of you heart attacks the last few days. Let’s hope in the World Series I can make them nice and clean.”
Since Boston is heading for the World Series on the back of Kimbrel’s best save of the playoffs, it’s safe to say that Red Sox fans will have no problem forgiving him.
Kimbrel also expressed gratitude toward manager Alex Cora for having so much faith in him despite his recent troubles. From WEEI:
“I went to him last night and said, ‘Thank you for trusting me and letting me get out of that inning last night.’ He looked at me and said, ‘You’re my guy and we’re going to give you the ball.’ I came in today, got ready to pitch the ninth inning and the ball got to me. […] For him to stick with me, tell me he’s confident in me and say I was his guy, it was great.”
Was Kimbrel tipping his pitches?
Red Sox pitching coach Dana LeVangie spoke to WEEI.com about what he and Kimbrel did to figure out Kimbrel’s recent issues. Even though Kimbrel wanted to watch video of himself late into the night after Game 4, LeVangie put the kibosh on that immediately and sent him back to the hotel for a good night’s rest. When Kimbrel arrived at the ballpark the next day, LeVangie had already identified two mechanical issues for Kimbrel to iron out, and Kimbrel felt the difference when he pitched Game 5.
“We found a few things last night after the game. Some stuff I’ve been struggling with for a while,” Kimbrel said. “I feel like I was able to hone it in tonight, get back online and pitch like I’m supposed to.”
While Kimbrel and his pitching coach focused on smaller things, manager Alex Cora had an alternate theory as to why his closer had been so shaky.
"There’s something with his slider I think. There has to be something going on because there’s a lot of takes. Quality ones, too. They keep taking it, and that started in New York. Either they have a good gameplan or it’s paranoia from my end." — Cora on Kimbrel slider.
— Ian Browne (@IanMBrowne) October 18, 2018
We’ve already seen some pitch tipping in the playoffs. New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone said that Luis Severino had been tipping his pitches during their series against the Red Sox, and Cora thinks that Kimbrel’s issues started around that time.
Kimbrel didn’t mention anything about tipping his pitches after the game, but the numbers seem to support Cora’s theory. Kimbrel threw just two sliders on Thursday night, relying on his fastball for the other 12 pitches. And Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald found even more proof:
Of the 41 breaking balls Kimbrel threw until [Thursday] night, only nine (22 percent) had generated swings. During the year, the swing rate on that pitch was 38 percent.
Only five had generated whiffs (12 percent); the whiff rate was 22 percent during the year.
More takes and fewer swings supports the pitch-tipping theory — the lack of swings indicates that batters may have thought that a slider was coming.
Kimbrel was brimming with confidence after Game 5, obviously looking forward to proving himself on baseball’s biggest stage. If he can take his recent improvements with him into the World Series, the opposing team won’t have much luck trying to spark a ninth-inning rally.
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Liz Roscher is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on Twitter at @lizroscher.
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