Ziegler, 36, will provide much needed bullpen help for a Red Sox team that was unable to use righties Junichi Tazawa and Craig Kimbrel due to injury concerns Friday night. Until then, right-hander Noe Ramirez was called up from Triple-A Pawtucket to take Kimbrel’s spot on the roster.
Advertisement
Ziegler was 2-6 for the Diamondbacks this season with 18 saves and a 2.82 ERA. Ziegler started with his career with the Oakland Athletics but has played for Arizona since 2011 and is the owner of a career 2.49 ERA.
It was announced on Saturday that Craig Kimbrel needs surgery on his knee and will be out for 3-6 weeks. He has four home runs while driving in 27 runs.
“Everything that we did early, he was fine”, Farrell said.
President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski has been busy this week, acquiring veteran infielder Aaron Hill from the Milwaukee Brewers and utility man Michael Martinez from the Cleveland Indians. “This is what our player go through day in and day out traditionally in the game”. Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a sacrifice fly and, with runners on first and third, Ramirez broke for second and catcher Hank Conger nailed Bogaerts off third. Boston’s offense has been lighting up in recent games but will it be enough to carry them to the top of the standings? Boston has scored 5.7 runs per game this season, almost a half-run per game more than the next best offense in baseball (the Cubs), but has allowed 5.0 runs per game, fewer than only the miserable Twins in the American League and sixth-most in the majors. Now the Boston Red Sox are going to have to start preparing for life without Kimrbel at least for a couple of weeks, according to ESPN. Late Friday night, the team acquired Brad Ziegler from the Arizona Diamondbacks, as reported by the Inquisitr. Hill played in 29 innings last season for Boston, posting a 1.55 ERA and an incredible 0.655 WHIP.
Red Sox manager John Farrell said Ziegler will share the closing duties with RHP Koji Uehara, who got the save Friday despite allowing a solo homer to Evan Longoria. Swihart has been sidelined since June 5 with a badly sprained left ankle. However, the Red Sox are going with their former closer who lost his job when Kimbrel was signed this offseason.
To make room for Ziegler, the Red Sox moved catcher/left fielder Blake Swihart to the 60-day disabled list. In 34 appearances this season, he has gone 1-3 with a 3.55 ERA over 33 innings with 50 strikeouts while converting 17 saves in 19 opportunities in his first year with the Red Sox.
Advertisement
Farrell said it was part of Kimbrels cardiovascular work. Zielger doesn’t strike many batters out, but he has nonetheless posted a 2.49 ERA (164 ERA+) over eight-plus major league seasons split between both leagues.
