Dodgers looking for answers to Craig Kimbrel’s recent struggles

LOS ANGELES — Kenley Jansen closed out games for the Dodgers for a decade. By the end, there were no secrets. They knew him and he knew them.

Craig Kimbrel has only been closing out games for the Dodgers for less than two months.

“That’s the great thing about having a great player, a veteran player because there’s a track record,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But the hard part is you have to give them some leash to kind of trust that (with) what they’ve done, they’ve figured some things out. You don’t want to kind of come in too hot, essentially.

“But I think we’ve seen enough and we’ve built enough trust with Craig to now offer our thoughts. He’s been receptive. But with a veteran player, he’s kind of done things his own way. You want to let him figure it out to a point.”

There are definitely some things to figure out.

Kimbrel has allowed runs in five of his past seven appearances, culminating in his first blown save as a Dodger on Monday night. Over those seven appearances, he has allowed 12 baserunners (eight hits, three walks and a hit batter) in just 6⅓ innings.

Roberts said the pitching coaches have assembled some video for Kimbrel to look at as a reminder of what he needs to do to be successful. But they have some ideas about why the clean outings have been few and far between recently.

“With Craig, it’s a couple things. I think when any pitcher starts to go kind of rotational it’s just not really good,” Roberts said. “We’re trying to get him to be more linear towards home plate. It starts a little bit with his setup where he closes himself off a lot, kind of subconsciously. And to come out of that, he gets really rotational. Then the breaking ball gets sweepy and the fastball is inconsistent.

“Just trying to get him back to where he needs to be in his delivery. The delivery part of it and then obviously trying to work with that will make his fastball come in better and his breaking ball – he needs to strike his breaking ball more consistently. … It should be more north-south, not east-west.”

Roberts said Kimbrel has been trying to iron out his mechanics “all season – and I think he’s dealt with that his whole career.”

Roberts said he remains committed to giving Kimbrel more consistent work in order to help him be more sharp. Kimbrel won’t go more than three days without pitching, he said. But Roberts said the staff also wanted to give Kimbrel a few days to focus on his delivery so he was not available Tuesday or Wednesday.

“We need him,” Roberts said.

FERGUSON RETURNS

Left-hander Caleb Ferguson joined the Dodgers on the taxi squad Wednesday. Roberts said Ferguson would “very likely” be added to the active roster on Thursday, replacing right-hander Michael Grove. Grove was available as a length option out of the bullpen for Mitch White’s start on Wednesday.

Ferguson opened the season with Triple-A Oklahoma City, finishing his rehab from Tommy John surgery. He was promoted and made one appearance with the Dodgers on May 16 before going back to OKC.

In four appearances since that demotion, Ferguson pitched 2⅔ innings without allowing a hit. He walked one and struck out eight – including three in an ‘immaculate inning’ (three strikeouts on nine pitches).

“With Fergie it was just finding consistency with the delivery. The fastball wasn’t there, command-wise (earlier in May). The curveball was inconsistent,” Roberts said. “The curveball is key for him. It’s a mid-90s fastball with (good) characteristics, but if he can strike the breaking ball he’s tough versus left and right.”

ALSO

Right-hander Yefry Ramirez has left Triple-A Oklahoma City and signed with the Hanwha Eagles of the Korean Baseball Organization. Ramirez, 28, made one appearance with the Dodgers last season and spent this season with OKC, going 2-1 with a 3.76 ERA over 40 ⅔ innings. …

The Dodgers’ June 26 game in Atlanta and their Sept. 4 game at home against the Padres have been picked up by ESPN for Sunday Night Baseball. The games will start at 4 p.m. PT.

UP NEXT

Mets (RHP Taijuan Walker, 3-0, 2.93 ERA) at Dodgers (RHP Tony Gonsolin, 5-0, 1.80 ERA), Thursday, 7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM