Should Red Sox be concerned about Craig Kimbrel?

Craig Kimbrel has found himself in quite a few sticky situations lately. Should the Red Sox be worried?

The All-Star closer for the Boston Red Sox, flame-throwing Craig Kimbrel, seems to be going through a bit of a funk right now. Kimbrel is having another solid year closing games out for the Red Sox, who continue their historic surge with an MLB-leading 78 wins, but his last few appearances have been…well…not so hot.

He blew a save on July 27 against the Twins, allowing two runs in 1.1 innings. Before that, he allowed a run against the Orioles while still picking up the save.

Kimbrel’s latest struggle on the mound came against the Yankees on Saturday. He ended up escaping Fenway Park with the save, but not before he danced around all sorts of danger first. After having several days off, he entered the game in the ninth inning with the Sox leading 4-0. He quickly got the first two outs, but then he gave up a run and loaded the bases with a pair of walks.

With the go-ahead run at the plate in the form of Greg Bird, and just an extra-base hit away from blowing Nathan Eovaldi’s eight-inning masterpiece, Kimbrel at last got Bird to fly out to Jackie Bradley Jr. in center field for the final out. Crisis averted, at least for now.

With Kimbrel’s recent shakiness on the mound, is it time for Red Sox fans to hit the panic button on their superstar closer?

Not just yet. While it is incredibly discouraging to see Kimbrel giving up runs and walking hitters, this should really turn out to be nothing more than a typical slump. Every athlete goes through slumps, even the best of them. Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer of all time, went through plenty of slumps — and a few of those slumps came during the postseason (just ask any Red Sox fan who was alive during 2004).

Fortunately for Boston, Kimbrel’s slump is happening now, during the dog days of the season while the Red Sox have an 8.5-game lead on the Yankees in the AL East. Any Red Sox fan would be more than happy to see Kimbrel slumping in August rather than October.

And even more so, even though it hasn’t always been pretty, Kimbrel has still been picking up saves for the most part, which is the most important thing. This slump will wear off like they always do, and Kimbrel will be back to being his lights out self soon enough.