SAN FRANCISCO — A few hours after Craig Kimbrel was tagged for his first major league blown save Thursday in Los Angeles, the Braves’ rookie closer was at a San Francisco restaurant with a group of teammates.
“We got into town and went and had dinner,” veteran reliever Scott Linebrink said. “He had a pretty good attitude about it. We were all kind of venting frustrations over the game, everybody. It was just a hard one to lose.
“I think it helps to talk about it, get it out and move on.”
Kimbrel blew a 3-2 lead after issuing a leadoff walk in the ninth inning and giving up a two-out, two-strike RBI single by Casey Blake. The Dodgers won 5-3 in 12 innings on Matt Kemp’s walk-off homer off Cristhian Martinez.
For Kimbrel, 22, it was the second earned run allowed in 28 appearances over two seasons. He felt terrible, said he failed to do his job after Braves hitters had staged a two-run, two-out rally in the top of the ninth to take the lead.
Blake also hit a seventh-inning homer off Linebrink to put the Dodgers ahead 2-1.
“There’s a lot of guys, I’m sure, that take responsibility for that game,” said Linebrink, 34. “I take responsibility for it, for that seventh-inning homer. I know Craig feels bad, but we get past that. We can talk about it. But today’s a new day.”
It was the 11th loss in 16 games for the Braves, whose bullpen has done superb work most nights. Lately the bullpen has dealt with the absence of setup man Peter Moylan, who’s on the disabled list with a bulging disc.
Linebrink, the major league leader with 11 relief appearances before Friday, said team unity would help the Braves get through a rough stretch. It’s his first year with the Braves, his fifth major league team.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a team like this,” he said. “Everybody does stuff on the road together, it’s not like you have your individuals or your little cliques. That’s been refreshing. It’s definitely a camaraderie, that we’re going to be there to pick one another up. It helps even more when you like the guy that you’re picking up.”
Venters feels better
After two days of complete rest, reliever Jonny Venters tested his arm with a game of catch Friday afternoon and hoped to pitch as soon as Friday night.
Manager Fredi Gonzalez said the Braves might wait until Saturday or Sunday, depending upon how Venters felt and what the trainers said after talking to him.
He joked that the Braves couldn’t wait much longer to use their top young lefty, for the safety of pitching coach Roger McDowell and head trainer Jeff Porter.
“We have to use him soon, because he’s going to either kill Roger or kill Bubba [Porter],” Gonzalez said, laughing. “I’m staying out of it. He called down yesterday [from the bullpen] about three times. One time Roger just hung up.”
Gonzalez reiterated that Venters’ soreness wasn’t in the elbow or shoulder. Venters said his arm had been sore the day after pitching for much of the season, and more nagging than anything. He had ligament-transplant elbow surgery years ago, and said this current condition is neither elbow- or shoulder-related.
“It’s kind of just all over, just generally soreness in my [upper] arm,” he said. “My stuff was still good. It’s not like I was throwing slower; maybe a little bit. I tried everything I knew to change my mechanics, nothing helped. It’s definitely nothing that I’m worried about. I just kind of was tired of throwing with it like that.”
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