MINNEAPOLIS -- Don't be fooled by the final score (it was 17-6, by the way), and try not to get too distracted by the number of hits (15) and home runs (5), all of which were a long time coming.
"If there's ever a chance to award a save before the ninth inning," manager John Farrell said, "that certainly is it."
Kimbrel was credited with neither a save nor a win for what he did in the eighth inning here against the Minnesota Twins. But in entering a one-run game with one out and inheriting the tying run on third base from setup man Matt Barnes and lefty Robby Scott, Kimbrel's back-to-back strikeouts of left-handed pinch-hitters Joe Mauer and Max Kepler were as clutch as it gets for a closer in what turned out to be a non-save situation.