Orioles designate reliever Craig Kimbrel for assignment

BALTIMORE — The Orioles designated veteran reliever Craig Kimbrel for assignment Wednesday, the team announced before their game against the San Francisco Giants. They recalled right-hander Bryan Baker in a corresponding move.

Kimbrel, 36, joined the Orioles on a one-year, $13 million deal this offseason to take over for the injured closer Félix Bautista. He compiled 23 saves and put together a strong first half but fell apart down the stretch, posting a 10.59 ERA in 18 games after the All-Star Break.

The right-hander said last week in Boston that he felt he was progressing despite the poor results.

“Overall, obviously you separate result from how things are coming out of my hand,” Kimbrel said of his two-run outing Sept. 9. “You kind of have to separate it when you talk about how it felt, because obviously the outcome of the outing last night didn’t look good but there are a lot of positives in it that I’m taking from it and taking forward and I feel like, as long as I can keep the ball coming out of my hand like I did last night, I don’t think there’ll be a lot of innings — or a lot of chances for innings — like last night to accumulate.”

His next appearance came in the form of mop-up duty Tuesday when Kimbrel allowed six runs in the ninth inning — the worst frame of the 15-year veteran’s MLB career — of Baltimore’s 10-0 loss to the Giants. The Orioles had hoped to get Kimbrel right in time for him to help them make a postseason run, but the club opted instead to cut ties with 11 games left in the regular season.

Though any team could claim the accomplished closer, who ranks fifth in MLB history with 440 saves, off waivers, he will be ineligible to pitch for anyone else in the playoffs this season. Baker, 29, took his spot on the active roster for Wednesday but right-hander Colin Selby, 26, also has a locker at Camden Yards and is on the taxi squad. The Orioles are expecting setup man Danny Coulombe (elbow surgery) to rejoin their bullpen soon.

Kimbrel was tasked with replacing the reigning Mariano Rivera American League Reliever of the Year Award winner in Bautista, who underwent Tommy John elbow reconstruction in October. He was the lone reliever to sign a major league deal with Baltimore over the offseason and the club relied on him heavily to fill the large void left behind by Bautista.

Ultimately, the consistency issues that cropped up for Kimbrel during his stints with the Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox in recent years resurfaced in Baltimore. Relying on a fastball that averaged 93.7 mph — a career low — and a curveball that wasn’t inducing the swings and misses it did at his peak, Kimbrel fell off in the second half and lost the ninth-inning role to trade deadline acquisition Seranthony Domínguez in August. Domínguez has gone 10 for 10 in save opportunities since taking over.