Anatomy of a Save: Kimbrel Records First As a Royal

 The Kansas City Royals may be the hottest team in baseball right now, which is wild to say for a team sitting in last place in their division.

On Saturday, they won their seventh straight game, their sixth game on this homestand, and their second in a row against the Tigers. It was definitely a good night for the 23,156 in attendance on Saturday at Kauffman Stadium (unless you were a Detroit fan). 

With the win, the Royals improved to 57-74 and are just 7.5 games out of an American League playoff spot (which shows how dire the competition is in the AL).

The Royals were helped on Saturday by home runs from Kyle Isbel and Salvador Perez, as well as a masterful performance from Michael Wacha (7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K). However, one of the more endearing stories from the K on Saturday was Craig Kimbrel getting the save, his first with the Royals and first since the 2024 season. 

According to manager Matt Quatraro in the postgame press conference, the Royals did not have Steven Cruz, Nate Pearson, or John Schreiber available because of their recent workload. All three pitchers have gotten not just saves, but closer opportunities with the Royals this season. Thus, Quatraro opted to go with the veteran, who's currently second on the active saves leader list, behind only Kenley Jansen, who actually was warming up in the Tigers' bullpen on Saturday during Kimbrel's appearance.

So how did Kimbrel get his first save in nearly two years against a Tigers team still trying to claw for a spot in the postseason? Let's break down Kimbrel's outing and how he managed to close out Detroit to help Kansas City clinch the weekend series. 

Kimbrel Didn't Get Whiffs, But the Stuff and Chase Were Solid

Looking at Kimbrel's TJ Stuff+ summary from Saturday, it was a bit of a mixed bag. 

Kimbrel threw 20 pitches on Saturday to earn his 441st career save. There were definitely some positives to glean from his save effort against Detroit.

First off, the stuff looked really good on Saturday. Even though his four-seamer velocity was slightly below average at 93.8 MPH, he generated elite spin and iVB on the fastball offering, which he threw 65% of the time against the Tigers. That resulted in a 111 TJ Stuff+ and a 72 grade on the pitch on Saturday. He struggled to locate it (23.1%) and induce whiffs (16.7%), but he also generated a 40% chase with the offering.

Kimbrel leaned heavily on his four-seamer, as only seven of his 20 pitches were secondary offerings. His best secondary pitch in terms of TJ Stuff+ was his knuckle curve, which had a 106 TJ Stuff+ and 61 grade. In terms of results? That was his changeup, which generated a 100% chase, 50% whiff, and .160 xwOBACON despite a 94 TJ Stuff+ and 46 grade (his worst marks in both categories). 

Overall, his TJ Stuff+ was 107, his chase was 56.3%, and his xwOBACON was .160. That made up for a lackluster overall zone rate (20%) and chase rate (16.7%). It's possible that Kimbrel struggled to find the zone because he was so amped up. His pitch chart from Saturday showed that, according to Savant, his four-seamer was missing up often.

While Kimbrel didn't live in the zone, he lived on the Edges in Saturday's win. That was good enough, especially with home umpire Manny Gonzalez having a big zone and the Tigers being eager to chase in game two of the series. 

Retiring Keith and Dingler With Ease

While the Royals got an insurance run in the sixth inning due to a wild pitch by Tanner Rainey that scored Jac Caglianone from third, Kansas City was nursing a thin two-run lead. To make matters worse, Kimbrel would be facing the third and fourth hitters in the lineup for Detroit: Colt Keith and Dillon Dingler. Both hitters have combined for 35 home runs this year

However, the veteran closer put both hitters away with ease.

Kimbrel got behind Keith, who led off the inning. He threw two balls to put Keith in a hitter's count. However, he was able to get a foul ball on the third pitch, and then induced a ground out to first base thanks to a changeup that threw Keith off after he saw nothing but fastballs in the previous three pitches.

As Royals fans can see, Kimbrel missed badly with his first two pitches. However, he did a good job of locating the four-seamer up and on the edge and then countered with the changeup low and away on the next pitch. Keith was sitting fastball, and the offspeed pitch forced him to roll over and produce an easy ground out, as seen below.

Dingler was an even easier at-bat for Kimbrel.

Kimbrel attacked Dingler low with the sinker and the knuckle curve. Not only did Dingler chase, but he fouled off both pitches to get himself into an 0-2 hole. In the pitcher's count, Kimbrel threw a high four-seamer just above the top edge of the strike zone. Gonzalez rang him up for strike three, and surprisingly, Dingler didn't challenge even though the Tigers had two remaining. 

It is surprising that Dingler didn't challenge. Then again, Gonzalez had a big zone all day, and maybe it was close enough for Dingler that he didn't feel confident in challenging the pitch, even though they had two remaining. Regardless, Detroit's prudence there worked to Kansas City's benefit.

A Walk to McKinstry Adds Tension, But Kimbrel Strikes Out Callahan

McKinstry has long been a "Royals-Killer" of sorts over the years, and he showed why in the ninth inning against Kimbrel.

After getting behind 2-0, Kimbrel battled to get back to 2-2 against the Tigers' No. 5 hitter. However, the veteran closer couldn't punch out or put away McKinstry. The Detroit right fielder not only fouled off a 2-2 fastball up and in, but he also laid off a four-seamer up and one down, generating a walk.

Callahan came up as the game-tying run, which only added tension to the Royals fanbase in attendance at Kauffman. Things didn't get better either when Kimbrel balked, putting McKinstry in scoring position. 

However, despite that balk, Kimbrel settled down and got in the zone to generate the game-ending strikeout on an 0-2 pitch. 

Kimbrel didn't give Callahan a chance to breathe in this at-bat, as Kimbrel didn't throw a ball to the rookie outfielder. Though Callahan fouled off three Kimbrel pitches, he struck out on a foul tip on a four-seamer high and above the strike zone.

It was the kind of four-seamer that Atlanta fans were used to seeing from Kimbrel back when he was one of the league's best closers. While it didn't have the same velocity as it did with the Braves, the movement and location were vintage Kimbrel, much to Royals fans' enjoyment.

Will We See More of This From Kimbrel in Kansas City?

For Royals fans thinking that Kimbrel will be able to close the save gap between him and Jansen (the Tigers closer has 492 career saves), that kind of thinking may need to stop, even after Kimbrel's Saturday performance.

Right now, Kansas City is building for 2027. So Cruz and Pearson will get most of the save opportunities going forward. Both weren't available tonight, so Quatraro had to go with another option. Kimbrel was the best one, especially after Alex Lange pitched in the eighth (he faced Detroit's 9-1-2 hitters and retired them in order). 

Still, it's likely that Kimbrel may have jumped Schreiber for save opportunities, which makes sense at the surface level. After all, Kimbrel has better stuff than Schreiber and more closing experience. Both are also going to be free agents after this year, so it's not like Schreiber has more long-term value to the Royals than Kimbrel. They both will (likely) be in other organizations in 2027. 

Even though Kimbrel's tenure in Kansas City will likely be short, he still gives some much-needed depth to a bullpen that's struggled all season. He's not what he once was, but the stuff is still there, and he's a future Hall of Famer to boot. That means something, not only to the clubhouse, but to the Royals fanbase looking for something positive to glean from games down the stretch.

Kimbrel will fill in the 9th when Cruz and Pearson aren't available, plain and simple. There's no reason he should be getting save opportunities over those two. They need the experience in high-leverage spots so they can become valuable relievers for Kansas City in 2027 and beyond.

However, when they're not available? Well, Royals fans can enjoy the fact that Kimbrel will be adding to his Hall of Fame resume in those sparse opportunities in the ninth.  

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