Red Sox's Craig Kimbrel: Third straight shaky outing Saturday

Kimbrel allowed one run on a walk, a wild pitch and two sacrifices in one inning in Saturday's 4-3 loss to Toronto. Boston's closer has walked six of the last 13 batters faced and has been tagged with the loss in two of the last three games.

Analysis:

While Saturday's performance wasn't the kind of meltdown we saw Wednesday in New York, it's a reminder how dangerous a walk, particularly a leadoff walk, can be. Kimbrel has had a fleeting relationship with control all season, posting a 5.0 BB/9 rate while walking a career-high 13.6 percent of the batters faced, up from 9.2 percent last season. That problem is surfacing as the Red Sox prepare to embark on the postseason. With his velocity, Kimbrel doesn't need to be pinpoint with his pitches, but he needs to put the ball over the plate. Red Sox manager John Farrell said he's not considering moving Kimbrel out of the closer spot, but they need to fix this latest flare-up of control issues.