Truth is, Kimbrel wasn’t going anywhere.
This was his game. He gathered himself, induced a weak ground ball from rookie
Gleyber Torres, watched third baseman
Eduardo Núñez field it and throw on the run, leaned with everyone else as first baseman
Steve Pearce barely kept his toe on the base for the final out, sweated a replay review and then started to celebrate. It was an ugly save. It was closer to an abject meltdown. Cora stuck with Kimbrel anyway.
“He knows his players very, very well,” Kinsler said. “He knows them inside and out. And he trusts his players. There’s trust and respect. Those are two things that are huge when it comes to sports. He doesn’t handcuff anybody. He believes in his guys, and it shows. Guys love playing for him.”