It was overshadowed by an epic pitcher’s duel between Kris Medlen and Cliff Lee, and Chris Johnson’s game-winning homer in the eighth inning, but Craig Kimbrel did something Friday that only 10 other pitchers have ever done.
Atlanta’s closer recorded his majors-leading 50th save, the second Braves pitcher to reach that standard and the first National League pitcher to do it since the Dodgers’ Eric Gagne converted 55 saves and won the Cy Young Award in 2003.
“Obviously it means I’ve had a lot of opportunities this year,” Kimbrel said with typical modesty. “We’ve had a lot of close games.”
Pressed further, he acknowledged the significance of 50 saves, something only John Smoltz — 55 in 2002 — had ever achieved among Braves.
“It definitely means a lot,” said Kimbrel, who had 46 saves in 2011 and 42 in 2012 in his first two full seasons, sharing the NL league both years. “It’s not something that comes around every year. Even if you do have a good pitching year, you might not get that many opportunities. So it’s definitely something special.”
Kimbrel converted 50 of 54 saves before Saturday and led NL relievers with a 1.23 ERA, including a 0.78 ERA in 35 home appearances. He converted a franchise-record 37 consecutive saves from May 9 through Sept. 14, posting a 0.38 ERA in 47 appearances during that period.
His first save during that streak was the 100th of his career, making Alabama native the second-youngest pitcher to reach that standard. Kimbrel, the first pitcher to have at least 40 saves in each of his first three full seasons in the majors, turned 25 on May 28.
“I definitely feel older than 25, I can tell you that,” he said, smiling. “But I also feel young at the same time. Still having fun, still enjoy this game, and hopefully there’s many more years to go.”
Kimbrel’s save Friday was his 139th in 154 career opportunities, a 90.3-percent conversion rate that ranked second in history behind Gagne (91.7) and Smoltz (91.1) among pitchers with at least 100 save opportunities.
He’ll be eligible for arbitration for the first time this winter, and Kimbrel three more seasons after this one before he could be eligible for free agency.
A year ago, he finished fifth in the Cy Young balloting after posting a 1.01 ERA and totaling 116 strikeouts and only 14 walks in 62-2/3 innings, becoming the first pitcher in major league history to strike out at least 50 percent of the batters he faced in a full season.
He had 98 strikeouts and 20 walks in 66 innings before Saturday, and a 0.879 WHIP (walks-plus-hits per inning pitched) compared to his microscopic 0.654 WHIP in 2012.
Entering Saturday, Braves relievers led the majors in ERA (2.44), opponents’ OPS (.604) and fewest homers allowed (28), and Kimbrel was the biggest reason.
“You talk about how good our bullpen is,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “If you can work from back (from the ninth inning) forward, it makes it a lot easier. Because you know that ninth inning is in pretty good shape, you can do some stuff.”
Kimbrel’s .165 opponents’ average dropped to .132 with runners on base, and .085 (4-for-47) with runners in scoring position. For his career, his .155 opponents’ average included .122 with runners on base and .097 (15-for-155) with runners in scoring position.
“He doesn’t panic,” Gonzalez said.
“You really can’t – if you panic, you’ve lost,” Kimbrel said. “There are times when it looks like a closer kind of bears down a little bit and there’s a little extra. But that’s just a little bit more thinking, a little bit better pitching. You can go out there and pitch a certain way with nobody on and be successful, but as soon as you get guys on you can’t have any mistakes. And that’s really the difference.”
