O's closer Craig Kimbrel, once again, gets on a pitching roll

Considering how well he has pitched before it and after it, it's fair to ask if Craig Kimbrel's six-game slump was mostly about a back issue?

Kimbrel's start to his season included one run allowed over 10 innings. Then came his struggles which lasted about two weeks. And now over his past eight games, he has not allowed a run.

For the year, over 24 games, he is 4-1 with 13 saves in 16 chances with a 3.00 ERA, a 13.29 strikeout rate and 0.95 WHIP. Those numbers are not bad, even with his brief struggles.

Kimbrel's 13 saves rank third-best in the American League and seventh-best in the majors. A season-long question the Orioles have to answer is: How well can they replace injured closer Félix Bautista?

In his first 10 games, Kimbrel was 3-0 with an 0.90 ERA and six saves in seven chances. Over 10 innings, he gave up one run with one walk to 16 strikeouts. His OPS against was a miniscule .288.

Then, during a when period he was dealing with an upper back issue from April 24-May 8, he made six appearances. He blew two of four saves and allowed seven runs (six earned) over 3 1/3 innings with eight walks and five strikeouts. His OPS against was 1.652.

Now in his last eight outings, he is 1-0 with an ERA of 0.00 and five saves in five chances. He has not allowed a hit over 7 2/3 innings and opponent batters are 0-for-22 against him in this eight-game stretch where he has no walks and 10 strikeouts. His OPS against is .043.

During the recent O's road trip, Kimbrel, who now has made 804 career appearances, talked about his up and down and then up again season.

“Yeah, I mean, from where we were at the start of the year, I was able to have a good start and watch my stuff kind of build up as we went," he said. "I had a little stretch where physically I wasn’t feeling so great and tried to throw through it. Didn’t work out so well. But yeah, I’m getting my foot down I feel on time and the ball is coming out good now. Hope I can stay there."

He has been. His 1-2-3 inning Friday night against Tampa Bay to record career save No. 430 is the latest example.

Kimbrel's current WHIP, Fielding Indepedent Pitching, ERA, K rate, batting average against, hits and homers allowed per nine are all better than last year when he was with Philadelphia. And again that is with that terrible stretch he went through.

Kimbrel told me he respected how manager Brandon Hyde handled him during his struggles, even though he briefly lost his closer's job.

“Really appreciative how he did it,” said Kimbrel, 35. “I kind of pitched myself into that spot. We communicated really well. Obviously translating what was going on and what we needed to do to fix it. Both of us agreed to get into some spots not closing out games where I could try to get back on track. Where I could still help the team and kind of get back into that groove. And that is what we were able to do.” 

Chance for another sweep: The Orioles, after their 9-5 win on Saturday, can sweep the Rays this afternoon at Camden Yards. Baltimore (37-19) is looking for its fifth sweep of the year. They have three-game sweeps at Boston, versus Minnesota and at Cincinnati. They just swept four straight at Chicago against the White Sox last weekend.

Ryan Mountcastle hit two homers in yesterday's win producing his ninth career mutli-homer game. Mountcastle is 6-for-11 during a three-game hitting streak. Over his past 10 games, he is 17-for-37, batting .459 with an OPS of 1.257. In that span he has five doubles, two homers and six RBIs.

The Orioles are 10-5 against the Rays since the start of last year and are 19-12 in their past 31 games against Tampa Bay. They are 11-3 (.786) this season versus American League East opponents.