For want of a nail: Craig Kimbrel fails to hammer down save for Red Sox

7:47 PM ET

TORONTO — Craig Kimbrel turned 28 on Saturday, but it’s safe to say he’s had better birthdays. The Boston Red Sox closer’s mood was far from celebratory after earning both a blown save and a loss as part of an overall bullpen meltdown in a 10-9 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Red Sox carried an 8-4 lead into the eighth inning, yet the four-run cushion wasn’t enough. After Tommy Layne and Junichi Tazawa were ineffective, manager John Farrell turned to Kimbrel with one out and the tying run on third base. Kimbrel retired his first batter but couldn’t put away Jose Bautista, as the Jays slugger grounded an RBI single to right field.

It seemed like David Ortiz had added to his clutch legacy — and bailed out his bullpen — after hitting a solo homer in the ninth to retake the lead for the Sox, yet the advantage was short-lived. With two outs in the ninth and an 0-2 count on Jays first baseman Justin Smoak, Kimbrel allowed a line-drive single into center field. Kimbrel also worked the next batter, Russell Martin, to an 0-2 count before the Jays’ catcher fought back to even the count and deposit a game-tying double into the left-field gap.

“I wish I wouldn’t have kept that curveball [to Smoak] in the zone. … Whenever you give up, you want to think back, but it was a good piece of hitting, they drove it,” Kimbrel said.

Kimbrel wasn’t helped by a throwing error from catcher Christian Vazquez that allowed pinch-runner Ezequiel Carrera to advance to third base after stealing second. While Carrera would have scored from second (or even first) anyway on Martin’s double, Vazquez felt he should’ve been able to throw Carrera out, “but the throw carried,” the catcher said.

Star closer Craig Kimbrel blew Boston’s one-run lead in the ninth, when he allowed two runs to score after retiring the first two batters in the inning. Dan Hamilton/USA TODAY Sports

A wild pitch that allowed Martin to reach third was the more damaging miscue, as Martin ended up scoring after Devon Travis sent a grounder to third base. Travis Shaw …

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