Craig Kimbrel Blows His First Save, Red Sox Come Back To Win In 12 Innings
We’re 18 games into the 2016 season, and the Red Sox are 9-9 (which somehow is good for second place in the division), while they’ve scored 90 runs and allowed 90 runs. They are the definition of meh.
Now, I know what you’re probably thinking — how the hell was that only Craig Kimbrel’s first blown save? That’s because the games that he’s allowed runs to score weren’t save situations. Opening Day at Fenway, he came into a tie game, and his other blunder earlier this month, he inherited Koji Uehara’s bases loaded mess in the eighth inning with one out. Sunday night, though, was inexcusable.
Kimbrel recorded the first two outs of the inning almost effortlessly, before allowing a two-out double to Carlos Correa, and then the big blow came from Colby Rasmus, who punished the Red Sox that entire series, on an 0-1, 98 MPH fastball that he crushed over the bullpen in right field. The big question right now is, are you worried about Craig Kimbrel? I mean, there is definitely a growing sense of impatience, sure, but I don’t think “worried” is the right word. Worried kind of implies that you think that this is bad right now, and there’s a chance that it’s going to stay this way, or perhaps get worse. I don’t feel that way.
Obviously I’m not happy with Kimbrel’s performance thus far, and I don’t think anybody, including Kimbrel, could look at the body of work and say it’s been anything but disappointing. But I suppose it was to be expected. And pump the brakes on the assertion that this is excuse making. It’s simply taking a look at trends and realizing that this has happened before, and he’s been just fine after it did happen. Throughout his career, Kimbrel has an ERA of 3.03 in April, which isn’t awful, but it’s statistically his worst month. From there, it drops to 2.76 in May, 1.29 in June, 0.84 in July, 0.76 in August, and bumps up a little in September/October to 1.55, but that’ll happen after a long season, and it’s still a dominant ERA.
If his struggles continue into May and beyond, then I think we might have a problem on our hands. But I also think that he hasn’t been put in the best position to succeed so far. There’s no excuse for Sunday night, but it’s still only his first blown save, and only the second time that he’s actually been hit hard, or at all really.
But onto the actual game. To this point, it has been a season of pleasant surprises. We never thought we’d be at the end of April and praising Hanley Ramirez for his defense at first base, and I certainly didn’t think we’d see Pablo Sandoval benched for Travis Shaw, who leads all Red Sox starters in batting average. You have Steven Wright, your number six starter coming into camp, as your best and most consistent starting pitcher in the rotation, and now you have Heath Hembree, who started the year with the PawSox, turning into one of your most dependable arms in that Red Sox bullpen. In three appearances, Hembree has thrown 7.2 scoreless innings, faced 29 batters, only allowed four hits, struck out 11, and walked just one. He got the much-deserved win after three scoreless innings of relief last night.
And I don’t think I’m asking too much here, but can Dustin Pedroia get some fuckin’ credit for the season he’s having so far? NOBODY is talking about this guy, and it’s blowing my mind. The only storyline surrounding Pedroia coming into 2016 has been whether or not he can stay healthy. Well, he’s healthy, and he’s also leading the team in hits after a 3-hit night on Sunday. So maybe let’s focus on that, how he’s still one of the best table-setters in the league, and how he’s scored just about 15% of the Red Sox runs this season.
By the way, I thought Jackie Bradley Jr. couldn’t hit? Where was that crowd last night when the Red Sox were busy winning the game in extras on the road? Couldn’t hear them. Weird.
Final score: Red Sox 7, Astros 5