Red Sox's Craig Kimbrel: Falters in ninth inning Saturday
Kimbrel (0-2) blew his second save of the season in Saturday's 10-9 loss to the Blue Jays, surrendering four hits and two earned runs over 1.1 innings. He struck out two.
Analysis:
It was a rare late-inning failure on the part of the Red Sox closer, who surrendered a game-tying RBI single in the eighth to Jose Bautista that plated Devin Travis, which Kimbrel had inherited from Junichi Tazawa. However, the 28-year-old was fully responsible for what transpired in the ninth, where he gave up a single to Justin Smoak, an RBI double to Russell Martin, and a game-winning infield single to Travis. Kimbrel had successfully converted seven consecutive save opportunities prior to Saturday, and hadn't given up an earned run since April 24 versus the Astros.