Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez used closer Craig Kimbrel for a four-out save in Game 2 and said Saturday he would feel comfortable doing it again Sunday in Game 3, if circumstances call for it.
Gonzalez said the primary factors he’s taking into consideration are how much rest Kimbrel has had, and will have, and how the Braves’ batting order falls.
“He hadn’t pitched in five days,” Gonzalez said of Game 2. “We’re going with the off day (Saturday), we felt pretty comfortable that he could handle that. I think (Sunday) he could do it again. I don’t know how many days in a row we could do it…It all depends on his workload going in and obviously the next day.”
Kimbrel threw only 25 pitches to get those four outs on Friday night and with an off day Saturday could be called upon to do it again in Game 3. But where the Braves are in their batting order will also be a determining factor. It’s not as simple a decision as for an American League team which has a designated hitter. That’s what made it easier for former Yankees manager Joe Torre, for example, to go so often to Mariano Rivera for four-out saves in the playoffs.
“When (Kimbrel) came in the other day, he had six outs before he came up,” Gonzalez said. “So you felt comfortable that if he did give up the tying run, he could go back out there in the ninth.”
Kimbrel converted only the third four-out save of his career against the Dodgers to nail down a 4-3 win in Game 2. His only other four-out saves came on Aug. 25 in St. Louis and on Sept. 5, 2012 in a 1-0 victory against the Rockies.
Eye on hot-hitting Ramirez
Gonzalez is already pretty familiar with Dodger shortstop Hanley Ramirez’s talents – he managed him for 3 ½ seasons with the Florida Marlins – but the Braves manager got a refresher course in the first two games of the series.
Ramirez is 4-for-9 including three doubles and a home run in Games 1 and 2. He went 3-for-5 with two doubles and a two-run home run in Game 2, hitting a home run off a David Carpenter slider that wasn’t that bad of a pitch.
“One-handed it,” Gonzalez said. “That’s how talented this guy is, and kept it fair. Created enough bat speed to hit the ball out of the ballpark. It’s scary how good this guy is.”
Given that any baserunner constitutes a rally in the postseason, pitching around batters is rare. Plus Ramirez has Adrian Gonzalez hitting behind him no “chopped liver,” as Gonzalez said.
The key Gonzalez said is keeping people off base in front of Ramirez. Carpenter got hurt by a leadoff walk in the eighth inning on Friday night, as Ramirez’s two-run homer cut the Braves’ lead to 4-3.
“What we’ve got to do is not put people on base, especially late in the game, and that is no secret to anybody,” Gonzalez said. “You don’t want to have base on balls in the 8th and 9th inning.”
