re: The Craig Kimbrel Conundrum

Exercepted from a Boston Herald piece this morning:

HOUSTON -- It’s been clear all postseason that Craig Kimbrel’s fastball has been wild and his vicious breaking ball wasn’t getting bites.

Entering last night, the results had been horrendous. Opponents were hitting .385 off his fastball. They weren’t swinging at the breaking ball. And Kimbrel had allowed at least one run all four times he’s pitched.

Finally, he fixed the problem.


Kimbrel threw a hitless ninth inning to close out the Red Sox’ 4-1 win over the Astros to punch their ticket to the World Series, which begins Tuesday at Fenway Park.

“We knew he was tipping his pitches yesterday, and we knew he was going to be fine,” manager Alex Cora said. “You saw his hands today. Yesterday they were up, today they were down. He’s been tipping his pitches for two weeks.”

Said Kimbrel, “We found a few things last night after the game. Some stuff I’ve been struggling with for a while. I feel like I was able to hone it in tonight, get back online and pitch like I’m supposed to.”

Kimbrel