Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora thinks something is going on with Craig Kimbrel’s curveball.
Kimbrel has struggled during the postseason. Though he has gone 4-for-4 on save opportunities, he’s been an adventure every time on the mound.
The 30-year-old has allowed at least one run in each of his four appearances, walking five and giving up six hits over 5.1 innings. He has an 8.44 ERA and 2.06 WHIP in the postseason despite having a 2.74 ERA and 0.99 WHIP in the regular season.
Cora thinks the issue is that opposing batters are laying off Kimbrel’s curveball.
Cora thinks "something is going on" with Kimbrel's slider b/c there have been a lot of takes.
"And that started in NY… Although there's no fastball command, the quality of sliders is good and they're not offering. Either they have a good gameplan or it's paranoia from my end."
— Jason Mastrodonato (@JMastrodonato) October 18, 2018
The insinuation is that either Kimbrel is tipping his offspeed pitch or both the New York Yankees and Houston Astros have taken the same approach at the plate of laying off the pitch. Whatever the case, both teams have had success against him, although neither did quite enough off of the closer to beat him.
