Orioles’ Hyde hopes Kimbrel will avoid injured list; Closer is day-to-day with back soreness

BALTIMORE—For now, closer Craig Kimbrel has avoided the injured list. Kimbrel left Sunday’s game with upper back tightness after allowing a two-run home run, which cost the Orioles the win.

After issuing a walk on four pitches and the home run that turned a 6-5 lead into a 7-6 loss to the Oakland Athletics, Kimbrel threw another ball, He was visited for the second time by manager Brandon Hyde and head athletic trainer Brian Ebel and left the game.

It was the second blown save in three games for Kimbrel, who walked three and failed to retire any of the five batters he faced in the ninth inning on Friday in a 3-2, 10-inning loss to the A’s.

“He’s feeling better,” manager Brandon Hyde said Monday before the start of a four-game series against the Yankees, who lead the Orioles by one game in the American League East. “He’s kind of day-to-day right now … he’s got general soreness in his back, but he’s feeling better.”

Hyde said he hopes Kimbrel will not have to be placed on the 15-day injured list. Kimbrel is 3-1 with a 3.18 earned-run average and seven saves, although the past two outings have been abysmal.

“I don’t think it was workload related,” Hyde said about Kimbrel’s injury and his inability to throw strikes on Friday and Sunday. “I don’t think he was overworked. I think this was something that kind of popped up. He was throwing the ball so well. He threw the ball great in Anaheim, had a tough outing on Friday night, and somewhere along the way, the weekend, the [back] tightened up on him.”