MINNEAPOLIS -- Don't be fooled by the final score -- it was 17-6, by the way -- and try not to get too distracted by the number of hits (15) and home runs (5) the Red Sox had, all of which were a long time coming.

Without closer Craig Kimbrel, the Boston Red Sox don't win Sunday.

"If there's ever a chance to award a save before the ninth inning," manager John Farrell said, "that certainly is it."

Kimbrel, a right-hander, was credited with neither a save nor a win for what he did in the eighth inning against the Minnesota Twins. But in entering a one-run game with one out and inheriting the tying run on third base from setup man Matt Barnes and lefty reliever Robby Scott, Kimbrel's back-to-back strikeouts of left-handed pinch hitters Joe Mauer and Max Kepler were as clutch as it gets for a closer in what turned out to be a non-save situation.

On a day when ace Sox lefty Chris Sale looked mortal, if only for one inning when he gave back a 4-0 lead, the plan was for Kimbrel to come back out for the ninth inning. He hadn't pitched since Wednesday, and the Red Sox are idle Monday, so if ever there was a time to extend him beyond his normal workload, this was it.

But then the Red Sox scored 10 runs in the top of the ninth. The inning lasted so long and the score got so lopsided that Farrell made the sensible move to bring in Joe Kelly to record the final three outs.

"I'm glad we won," Kimbrel said. "I'm glad to see our bats waking up the last two days. It was a long inning. For about six or seven runs, I was ready to go back out. But as the inning went longer and longer, I just sat in the dugout too long."

Regardless, it does little to diminish the quality or importance of Kimbrel's 11 pitches. One of the worst, ironically, might have been the curveball he threw to strike out Mauer. The pitch appeared to be off the outside corner of the plate, but umpire Dan Iassogna rung up Mauer anyway.

"It was a little tough today. The balls were a little slick," Kimbrel said of commanding his curveball. "It kind of slipped out on me, and I feel like I got a pretty generous call there as well."

Said Mauer: "Right out of his hand, I knew it wasn't even close."

But Kimbrel's fastball command has been so precise all season that he didn't need to be perfect with his breaking pitch. He has been as dominant as ever during his two seasons with the Red Sox. This year, he has allowed only five hits and two walks while racking up 26 strikeouts in 14 innings.

In fact, at a time when intended setup man Tyler Thornburg still hasn't progressed to throwing off a mound in his return from a right shoulder impingement suffered in spring training, it must be tempting for Farrell to call on Kimbrel in the eighth inning more often. Barnes represents the best of a few unsteady setup options, and he struggled against the Twins, allowing Mauer's walk-off homer Friday night and failing to record an out against the three batters he faced Sunday.

"The temptation is to use [Kimbrel] more frequently, not just a traditional closer role, which we're doing a little bit more of, of late," Farrell said. "He's a hell of a pitcher. He's a shutdown closer. He gives an awful lot of confidence to everybody in that bullpen group out there, knowing you've got that guy standing next to you when you're working to close out a game."

So what's stopping Farrell from using Kimbrel in the highest-leverage situations regardless of the inning, as the Cleveland Indians used Andrew Miller late last season and in the playoffs?

"Andrew has the flexibility of having a closer similar to Craig Kimbrel behind him," Farrell said, referring to Indians closer Cody Allen. "Get us another Craig Kimbrel and we’ll do that. I think the postseason last year, everyone thought this is the way a bullpen should be used. In a short series, yes. In 162 games, that’s going to be an awfully big challenge."

Farrell will continue to pick his spots, then, as long as Kimbrel keeps delivering.

"That’s a guy that, he doesn’t have to shy away from anything," Sale said. "He has as good of stuff, if not the best stuff, I've ever seen on a baseball field. He doesn’t have to pitch around guys. There’s no need to. He’s the best in the business."