Kimbrel third fastest in history to reach 400-save mark (2024)

ATLANTA -- Craig Kimbrel bent parallel at the waist and hung his right arm in the air.

He had been in this situation countless times, needing one more pitch to get one more out. But Kimbrel had never experienced a moment quite like this. It is a moment baseball might not experience again for a long time.

Kimbrel became the eighth pitcher in MLB history to record 400 saves when he pitched a scoreless ninth inning in the Phillies’ 6-4 victory over the Braves on Friday night at Truist Park. Kimbrel joined Mariano Rivera (652 saves), Trevor Hoffman (601), Lee Smith (478), Francisco Rodriguez (437), John Franco (424), Billy Wagner (422) and Kenley Jansen (401) as the only pitchers in the 400-save club.

Kimbrel reached the mark in his 730th career appearance. Only Rivera (697) and Hoffman (706) got there in fewer games.

Kimbrel got Ozzie Albies and Orlando Arcia to fly out to center field for the first two outs in the ninth. Kimbrel then walked Michael Harris II on six pitches, but he got Ronald Acuña Jr. to ground out to third baseman Josh Harrison to end the game.

“Just happy; just a lot of things,” Kimbrel said. “I’m happy it was here in Atlanta, happy I'm with my family. The majority of my family was here to see it -- getting to take it in and enjoy it with them is great. The first thing was like, 'Whew, glad he hit that ball to third base and didn't hit it out.' But then it was, 'OK, game's over, let's enjoy it.'”

Kimbrel gave a little fist pump after the throw beat Acuña to the base, but that was the extent of his on-field celebration.

His teammates hugged him.

His family went wild in the stands.

“Honestly, I think a lot of my family members out there, I think that happens a lot,” Kimbrel said. “They've put in a lot of emotions, a lot of time to support me. It feels good. I had quite a few out there tonight, I think it was like 30-40 [people]. My brothers, my parents, close family friends -- they've been supporting me forever. A lot of them were out there saying this feels weird celebrating here in Atlanta. It brought back a lot of memories of just hanging out with the same group of people in the tunnel after the game and catching up.”

It seemed perfect that Kimbrel reached the milestone in Atlanta, because this is where he began his career. He made his first career appearance for the Braves on May 7, 2010, against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. He recorded his first 186 saves with the Braves from 2010-14. He recorded his 200th career save against the Braves at Turner Field in 2015, when he pitched for the Padres.

Then, No. 400 in Atlanta.

“It was incredible,” Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto said. “It was a lot of fun. It’s happened eight times in the history of baseball and it probably won’t -- in my opinion -- happen very many more times with how the game’s going and how saves aren’t necessarily … teams don’t value them the same as they used to. He could be one of the last of a dying breed, which is pretty cool.”

Aroldis Chapman is next on the active saves list with 317. Behind him is Mark Melancon (262), Edwin Díaz (205), David Robertson (165) and Raisel Iglesias (161).

Do any of them hit 400?

It’s difficult being this good this long.

“Toughness, resilience, the ability to have a short memory,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said when asked what it takes to accomplish the feat. “You're the last guy on the mound. You're in the spotlight. When you give up one of those, you have to come back the next day and do it again. To be able to do that, you have to be mentally tough.

“When guys reach milestones like that, it's just emotional for me because I know how hard they work and how long they've played and how difficult this game is.”

Kimbrel had been close to 400 saves for weeks, so he said he was locked in when he jogged to the mound from the bullpen.

“We were talking about it after the game, just how calm he is,” Realmuto said. “You don’t get 400 saves in the big leagues without having that type of mentality. He doesn’t get too high, too low. He’s the same Craig every single day. You don’t know if he’s struggling or being the best pitcher on the planet that day.”

He was pretty good Friday. He helped the Phillies win a game they needed to win.

But that’s what good closers do.

“I wouldn't say it was a target,” Kimbrel said of reaching 400 saves. “My goal is to show up and be ready to pitch in those opportunities as much as I can. Knowing that if I was closing games, I was hoping to get 35-40 [saves] a year, doing my job. That's about it.

"How the number climbs or how many I get every year or seeing that happen -- [counting] the numbers? No, not at all. It was just one year at a time, one save at a time, because we don't know what tomorrow brings. I'm happy to have done this 400 times.”