When a save opportunity arose for the Orioles on Friday night, Craig Kimbrel was already in the dugout.
The Orioles’ struggling closer said before the game that he expected to handle the team’s save situations until told otherwise. Yet, manager Brandon Hyde, who two days before said the Orioles would “stick with him” despite Kimbrel failing to convert four of his past five save chances, used him in the seventh inning, calling on the 35-year-old to protect a one-run lead with the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Nos. 8, 9 and 1 hitters due up. He sat them down in order to help the Orioles win an eventual 4-2 decision.
“The relationship we’ve had and the conversations we’ve had, if that changes in his mind, I think he’s going to let me know before he tells you all,” Kimbrel said pregame of Hyde’s confidence in him. “So, 100% I expect to get the ball and until that changes and until I pitch my way out of that, I expect to go out there and close out the games every opportunity we get.”
Hyde had other plans, using Kimbrel in a set-up role with a potential save situation looming later in the game. The opportunity was instead given to right-hander Yennier Cano, who worked around a leadoff double to post a scoreless frame and secure his second save of the season. Hyde wouldn’t commit to how long Kimbrel would be removed from the closer role, if at all, but said after the game his plans for Kimbrel’s usage moving forward are a “day-to-day thing.”
“Pitching a 3-2 game in the seventh, it’s still a lot of pressure and a high-leverage situation,” Hyde said. “I just want to get him going, honestly. I just want him to get confident. I know he’s had a rough week, just want to kind of change his look a little bit. He’s done a lot of really cool things for a long time. Just trying to give him some confidence.”
Kimbrel, who entered the night tied for fifth in MLB history with 426 saves, had allowed six earned runs in his previous five outings, walking seven and giving up two home runs over that span. Coming off an up-and-down season with the Philadelphia Phillies that ended with him losing the closer role in the playoffs, the right-hander got off to a strong start to 2024, converting six of his first seven save chances and posting an 0.82 ERA.
He then pitched through some upper-back soreness, blowing a pair of saves against the Oakland Athletics at the end of April and taking four days off after exiting one of those contests early. Kimbrel was excellent in his return, striking out the side for the save on May 3 in Cincinnati against the Reds. The next day, however, his struggles resurfaced. Kimbrel faced four batters and gave up one run, recording only one out before Hyde brought Cano in to get out of a jam with the tying run on third. In an appearance Wednesday, he exited with two outs in the ninth of an eventual 12-inning win over the Washington Nationals.
“Let’s make it simple, I’ve got to be better,” Kimbrel said. “I think four of my last five outings have been pretty bad and I’ve just got to be better than that. Whatever they are — walking guys, throwing pitches where I shouldn’t, giving guys opportunities, not capitalizing on opportunities in at-bats and things like that. It can be laying in the breaking ball more, being less predictable, you name it. Whatever it is, I need to figure it out and be better, and I fully expect to.”
He did get through the seventh inning unscathed Friday, but the Diamondbacks’ Blaze Alexander and Ketel Marte both put balls in play against him with exit velocities over 101 mph. Kimbrel has struggled with limiting hard contact in particular; according to Statcast, he entered play Friday with a 50% barrel rate, on pace for his highest rate since the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. While the strikeouts (13.8 per nine innings) have still been there, Kimbrel is also walking batters at his highest rate (5.7) since 2020.
Orioles fans showed how they felt about Kimbrel with a smattering of boos among the Camden Yards faithful when he entered the game Friday amid a lights show and his entrance song, “Wherever I May Roam” by Metallica. The mood shifted after he retired the Diamondbacks in order with applause following him into the dugout.
Despite the fans’ uneasy response to his recent struggles, the Orioles have already seen firsthand what Kimbrel is capable of when he’s right. There’s no shortage of faith in the clubhouse in his ability to regain his form.
“There’s been no confidence lost,” starter Cole Irvin said. “He’s on the all-time saves list for a reason. He can get the job done in any night and I’m sure that clean inning felt good for him but you’d have to ask him. We have a lot of confidence in this room with Craig and he’s one of the best in the game and there’s no doubt about that.”