Kimbrel given night off with soreness in shoulder

PHILADELPHIA -- When David Carpenter entered Monday night's game to serve as the Braves' closer against the Phillies, the obvious question was, Where's Craig Kimbrel?

So after the Braves' wild, 9-6 win, Kimbrel, who has been around long enough to know what was coming, looked back from his locker and laughed.

"You want to talk to me?" Kimbrel said. "I didn't play."

Kimbrel was given the night off after experiencing some soreness in his shoulder on Saturday night after he picked up his fifth save in as many chances this season in a win over the Nationals.

The Braves are being careful with their most valuable bullpen piece, which is understandable, but they didn't appear overly concerned, saying that a day or two of rest is all that's needed.

"It's something that I've felt through Spring Training," said Kimbrel, who is 10 saves shy of John Smoltz's franchise record of 154. "It's not anything on the field. It's just a little uncomfortable. [I'll] just take a few days off. The guys really swung the bat well today."

"He has a sore shoulder," manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "We're going day to day with him.

"Not worried at all. I'm talking to Craig and our trainers. I think it's one of those things that every reliever goes through. [If we hadn't gone ahead in the ninth], you guys wouldn't have even known it. So throughout the course of the season, there are guys that are banged up and they're not the closer. If it's not a save situation, nobody would even know, so I'm not concerned at all."