Kimbrel did not play Friday night against the Tampa Bay Rays due to discomfort in his left knee during pregame warm-ups.
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The Arizona Diamondbacks shipped closer Brad Ziegler to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for minor leaguers Jose Almonte and Luis Alejandro Basabe.
Dustin Pedroia added a two-run single for Boston, which looks for a sweep of the three-game series Sunday when former Rays ace David Price is scheduled to pitch. Kimbrel will have surgery Monday to fix the injury.
Kimbrel will have surgery to fix torn cartilage on Monday after being diagnosed with a medial meniscus tear in his left knee.
For Kimbrel, it has been an up and down season, and his numbers do not reflect an All-Star.
The Diamondbacks enter Saturday 17 games behind the San Francisco Giants in the National League West and 10 behind the New York Mets for the league’s second wild card.
Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski was already looking to shore up his beleaguered bullpen when closer Craig Kimbrel was hurt shagging flyballs.
Farrell said it was part of Kimbrel’s cardiovascular work.
Both are several years away from the Majors, and the Red Sox are clearly in win-now mode, so Dombrowski won’t mind parting with either prospect. What our players go through normally day in and day out for traditionally in the game. “Just come back to me and let me know, ‘” he said.
“It’s probably beyond our expectations coming into his final season”, Boston manager John Farrell said. You get a little bit of a change in direction, and this is what happens.
Red Sox fans may remember Ziegler from his time as a member of the Oakland A’s, where he spent 2008 through 2011 before being traded to Arizona.
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“Absolutely, coming a here and pitching here now, I feel a lot more comfortable”, said the right-hander after raising his record to 8-0 in nine Fenway starts. Recently acquired IF/OF Michael Martinez has joined the team, and reliever Noe Ramirez has been recalled from Pawtucket to take Kimbrel’s place on the roster. Rodon is 2-7 with a 4.50 ERA and 1.53 WHIP in 16 starts, a year after posting a promising 3.75 ERA over 139 1/3 innings as a rookie.
