Ok, there's going to be some amazing stats at the end so hang with this one.
Since so many starters pitched, I'm not sure I've seen anything that broke down pitchers in the postseason by relief appearance. Here are the final numbers for pitchers out of the bullpen, for the 14 games.
Kelly 11.1 IP, 1 ER
Kimbrel 10.2 IP, 7 ER
Eovaldi 9.1 IP, 1 ER
Brasier 8.2 IP, 1 ER
Barnes 8.2 IP, 1 ER
Hembree 4.2 IP, 0 ER
EdRo 4.1 IP, 3 ER
Sale 2.0 IP, 0 ER
Porcello 1.2 IP, 0 ER
Workman 1.0 IP, 5 ER
Price .2 IP, 0 ER
So, a bullpen ERA of 2.71 skewed pretty heavily by the one bad ninth inning by Workman in the Houston loss.
Kimbrel's numbers are fascinating. 7 ER in 9 appearances is not good but you sort of have to view it all in context. Kimbrel closed the game in 8 of his 9 appearances. Although he gave up his 7 runs in these 8 games he never gave up the lead. (Obviously defense helped.) So, he may have given up runs but he never failed to get his outs before the other team was able to tie. In the one game he did not finish the game, he did not give up any runs.
So here's where it gets interesting. Not one Red Sox reliever who was pitching with a lead gave up that lead at any time, except for the one unearned run given up by Eovaldi in the marathon game in Dodger Stadium. Think about that for a second. These were the highest leverage innings that one can envision and not one reliever gave up a lead, except that one lone unearned run.
Need a more amazing demonstration of this stat -- Red Sox relievers came into the game in 23 save eligible situations in the postseason. They converted every single one of them. You want more? Every single pitcher on the team who pitched -- not just traditional relievers but anyone who pitched this postseason -- had a hold or a save except for Hembree and Price.
Kimbrel 6-6 on saves
Brasier 5-5 on holds
Barnes 3-3 on holds
Kelly 2-2 on holds
Eovaldi 2-2 on holds
Porcello 2-2 on holds
Sale 1-1 on holds
EdRo 1-1 on holds
Workman 1-1 on holds