Craig Kimbrel dropped to 6-7 on the season after he walked three of the five batters he faced while allowing an unearned run Tuesday in the Dodgers 4-3 loss to the Padres in 10 innings.
After manager Dave Roberts officially removed him from the closer's role last weekend, Kimbrel turned in a clean inning, but he took a big step backward. Kimbrel in the 9th inning struck out Manny Machado for the second out of the inning and then followed that by walking Brandon Drury to load the bases. After that, he walked Jorge Alfaro to bring in the winning run.
After the Dodgers’ walk-off loss, Kimbrel expressed frustration with his performance on SportsNet LA:
“I just tried to stay through them, and yanked them. They didn’t come back. They stayed there and were balls. It’s frustrating. I felt like I was on line. I was just yanking the ball. Frustrated is all I can say.”
The 34-year-old has pitched to a 4.02 ERA and 1.36 WHIP in 56 innings while striking out 66 batters and walking 26. The Dodgers have a few decisions to make in terms of who will be on the postseason roster. The NLDS will begin October 11th.
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