Orioles’ Craig Kimbrel Responds After Loss to Rays

Getty Craig Kimbrel pitching during a July 20 game against the Texas Rangers.

For a second time this season, Craig Kimbrel has lost his role as the Baltimore Orioles‘ go-to closer. The future Hall of Famer is in a slump on the mound and it’s costing his team.

Kimbrel talked with reporters after giving up a winning RBI sacrifice fly to Curtis Mead in a 2-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.

“It’s been a challenge,” Kimbrel said, according to Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports. “The challenge has been pretty apparent, throwing the ball over the plate when needed to. Consistency. I would say overall, there’s times my stuff has played and gotten me through some things, but all in all, my consistency has just been really terrible, and when you’re inconsistent, you put guys on base and things happen. That’s what happened today.”

Kimbrel’s last save was on July 7 against the Oakland Athletics. Since, he’s seen his ERA go from 2.10 to 3.35 over nine appearances.

When asked if whether or not he thinks the majority of his struggles are behind him, Kimbrel was non-commital.

“I mean, yes and no,” Kimbrel continued, according to Kubatko. “Going through those stretches there’s still times where my consistency is off, you know? Still walking guys, putting guys on. Just the crispness isn’t there. Getting ahead of guys and walking them. That’s something that I shouldn’t be doing out there. That’s something I’ve been running into.”

Kimbrel’s pitched 43 innings this season. He’s given up 4 home runs, 20 runs total, and walked 25 batters. The Orioles are 1-5 in his last six appearances.

Brandon Hyde on Craig Kimbrel: ‘You’ve Got to Be Able to Hold Runners’

Baltimore’s skipper Brandon Hyde credited Kimbrel’s poor August 11 outing to a leadoff walk given up to Brandon Lowe.

“Well, the leadoff walk doesn’t help,” Hyde told reporters postgame. “And then, you’ve got to be able to hold runners better than that. He left a ball in the middle part of the plate to Mead. You know, he hadn’t been out there in four days, maybe a little bit rusty. The leadoff walks are going to hurt.”

That walk set up a steal for Lowe, and then a walk to Christopher Morel. The pair stole another pair of bases and Josh Lowe was intentionally walked, before Mead hit the game-winning sac fly.

Kimbrel gave up three steals in the one inning. He agreed with Hyde on the implications of letting base runners go unchecked.

“That puts them in scoring position,” Kimbrel said, according to Kubatko. “They’re at third base where a fly ball scores them, like it did. Yeah, just definitely narrows the margin for error and that’s what it did.”

The Orioles are 70-49, and tied with the New York Yankees for the AL East lead. There are 43 games to go in the 2024 season.

Albert Suarez Impresses as Grayson Rodriguez Replacement

If there was a silver lining to the injury-littered season for Baltimore’s pitching staff, it’s the emergence of other arms.

Grayson Rodriguez, the number two starter, was placed on the 15-Day Injured List on August 7 with right lat/teres discomfort.

He joined Kyle Bradish, John Means, and Tyler Wells as starters currently out–although they’ve all suffered season-ending injuries.

Rodriguez’s absence paves the way for Albert Suarez to return to Baltimore’s starting rotation. He previously served as a starter in the wake of Bradish’s injury in Spring Training.

The August 11 loss to the Rays was his second outing since rejoining the rotation, and he impressed. Suarez pitched 6.2 innings of scoreless baseball, tallying 5 strikeouts and only one walk along the way.

Hyde commended the 34-year-old’s performance after the game.

“Just a great performance by him,” Hyde told reporters. “He put up zeros. He’s just such a pro. With the ‘pen kind of the way we were today and going that deep, he gave us a great chance.”