Time might not have been on Craig Kimbrel’s side, but he still got the job done.
The Phillies closer was called for three pitch clock violations in the bottom of the ninth on Thursday against the Arizona Diamondbacks but still pulled out the save, sealing Philadelphia’s 5-4 victory.
MLB introduced the new pitch clock rules for the 2023 season in hopes of increasing the pace of play, giving pitchers 15 seconds to pitch the ball with no one on base and 20 seconds with runners on.
Despite this, Kimbrel seemed to want to hang on the mound all day during his Thursday matinee outing.
Utilityman Josh Rojas started the frame and quickly went down 1-2 against Kimbrel before the right-hander did not pitch the ball in his allotted 15 seconds and was charged with a ball.
Kimbrel came back to strike out Rojas before facing outfielder Jake McCarthy, who also went down in a two-strike hole.
But Kimbrel was charged with two more violations in the at-bat, giving McCarthy two free balls, though he got the outfielder to flied to center for the second out.
Facing Gabriel Moreno, Kimbrel worked within the time constraints and induced a game-ending groundout to give the Phillies their third win in a four-game set in Arizona and improve their record to 35-34.
Despite his pitch clock ordeal, Kimbrel — who recorded his 10th save — has been steady for the Phillies in June after a rocky start to the season.
This month the 35-year-old has a 1.29 ERA with 10 strikeouts in seven innings.
At the end of May, Kimbrel became the eighth major league pitcher to record 400 saves when he closed out a win against the Atlanta Braves, the team he where began his career.