CHICAGO — His early-season inconsistency seems a fading memory now, as Braves rookie Craig Kimbrel has become baseball’s most dominant closer.
The baby-faced flamethrower converted his 40th save Tuesday in a 5-4 win against the Chicago Cubs, matching the major league rookie saves record set last season by Neftali Feliz of the Texas Rangers. Kimbrel has not given up a run, earned or otherwise, in more than two months, and led the majors in saves and strikeouts for relievers with an astounding 103 in 62 2/3 innings.
“I’ll look back on it at the end of the year,” the 23-year-old said of his accomplishments. “Right now I’m just worried about helping us win and helping us get to the playoffs and through the playoffs.”
Kimbrel began Wednesday with a remarkable 31 1/3-inning scoreless streak over 32 appearances since June 11, during which he allowed 12 hits and 10 walks with 55 strikeouts.
He gave up a two-out bloop hit to Aramis Ramirez in the ninth Tuesday, then struck out pinch-hitter Tyler Colvin with Ramirez at second to finish the Braves’ sixth consecutive win and convert his 22nd consecutive save.
“He’s just so composed,” manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “He’s not just a fastball guy anymore. He threw three breaking balls to the last guy. He’s learning. He’s getting better.
“He’s been terrific, really.”
The last run scored against Kimbrel was June 11 at Houston. Gonzalez used Jonny Venters in two save situations that week, when Kimbrel had been shaky in several outings and Venters was the National League’s hottest reliever.
At the time, Kimbrel had a 3.38 ERA and five blown saves in 23 opportunities.
After considering making a change and having Venters at least split the closer duties with Kimbrel, Gonzalez decided to keep Kimbrel in the primary closer role.
Before Wednesday, Kimbrel’s scoreless streak was 2 2/3 innings shy of Philadelphia starter Cliff Lee’s longest in the majors this season. No other reliever has as many as 85 strikeouts, and Kimbrel’s 14.56 strikeouts per nine innings was more than three runs above the NL’s next-highest.
Heyward’s first slam
With Jose Constanza out of the lineup Tuesday night for a sprained ankle, Jason Heyward made the most of an opportunity.
Heyward hit his first grand slam in the five-run fourth inning of a 5-4 win against the Cubs.
The big right fielder went 3-for-4 and hit his bases-loaded homer to the left-center bleachers, seeing dividends for the recent work he’s done to hit to the opposite field instead of pulling everything.
“I wasn’t exactly sure when it was going to show up, but tonight’s definitely a good start for that,” said Heyward, who hit .197 with five homers and 17 RBIs in his past 70 games before Tuesday.
He was back in the lineup Wednesday, although Gonzalez said that had more to do with wanting to give Constanza a second day to rest the right ankle he turned during Monday’s game.
Weekend weather
Hurricane Irene could force rescheduling of at least one of the Braves’ weekend games against the Mets in New York.
With Irene potentially headed toward the Northeast and heavy rains in the Sunday forecast, baseball commissioner Bud Selig said contingency plans have been discussed for weekend games in New York, Philadelphia and Boston. He didn’t elaborate on what those changes could be.
If a rainout seemed likely, Braves players hoped that a Friday or Saturday doubleheader might be scheduled, enabling them to get out of town before Sunday.
“The weather reports are all different, so we’ll see what path it takes,” Selig said. “But we are trying to make as many contingency plans as we can. We’re trying to figure out what we could do in case we have the one really bad day of rain.”
