“A lot of adrenaline,” Ziegler said. “The fans, I’m grateful for the reception they gave me when they announced me. It was a lot of fun. It was kind of everything you dream of when you think about putting on a Red Sox uniform and playing at Fenway.”

For Ziegler, the righthanded reliever traded to Boston in the wee hours Saturday morning, everything had happened quickly. By Sunday afternoon, he was closing out the Red Sox’ 4-0 victory over the Rays, pitching a 1-2-3 ninth inning on just eight pitches.

With his things still packed in a pair of Arizona Diamondbacks duffel bags, Brad Ziegler had forms to sign and paperwork to complete Sunday morning while most of his new teammates slowly trailed into the Red Sox clubhouse.


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Ziegler had closed one out at Fenway Park, striking out Evan Longoria and Brandon Guyer and inducing a grounder from Logan Morrison, just over a week after Arizona had talked to the 36-year-old about a contract extension.

“I said, you know, I’m open to whatever, just come back to me with something and let me know,” Ziegler said.

The Diamondbacks were also in trade talks, however, with the Red Sox. On Friday night, the same night closer Craig Kimbrel hurt his knee shagging fly balls during batting practice, the Sox pushed through the deal that sent Single A prospects Jose Almonte and Luis Alejandro Basabe to Arizona for Ziegler.

“The next time I heard from [the Diamondbacks], I was traded,” Ziegler said. “I know it’s the nature of the game, it’s part of the business, but that’s part of why I was a little surprised and caught off guard by how early it happened.

“At the same time, I appreciate, if [the Red Sox] felt like it was something they needed to do right away and help out right now — then I’m more than happy to be a part of it.”


Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said the timing of the trade with Kimbrel’s injury, which wasn’t diagnosed until Saturday, was a coincidence. Kimbrel is having cartilage surgery on his left knee Monday and is expected to be out 3-6 weeks.

Ziegler and Koji Uehara could both fill in for Kimbrel, manager John Farrell said. With Ziegler wanting to get his first appearance out of the way before the All-Star break and Uehara fatigued, Farrell called on the new guy Sunday and was happy with the result.

The newest Red Sox arm A look at Ziegler's stats over his nine seasons. Team Seasons W-L ERA SV IP OAK 2008-11 11-13 2.49 19 231.1 ARI 2011-16 21-11 2.49 62 335.2 BOS 2016 0-0 0.00 0 1.0 Career 32-24 2.49 81 568 Source: baseball-reference.com

“We’ll take two strikeouts out of every three each time he walks to the mound,” Farrell said. “We felt like his style, that submarine-type arm slot, that’s a really good fit to the remainder of our bullpen.”

Ziegler’s sidearm motion provides contrast with harder-throwing righties such as Heath Hembree and Matt Barnes. Ziegler converted his throwing motion after the 2007 season, when he was in Triple A in the A’s organization.

He throws in the mid-80s and has the highest ground ball rate (67.4 percent) of any active reliever. Ziegler was 18 for 20 in save situations for Arizona this season and has a 2.82 ERA. Righthanded hitters have hit .224 against him in his career, .273 for lefthanded hitters, making him a good fit for the AL East.

“He’s been very effective against righthanders and as we get into Toronto and Baltimore and those types of lineups I feel like he’s going to be a good fit with us,” Farrell said.


Ziegler isn’t sure what role he’ll fill once Kimbrel returns, but said he’d be happy to fill in wherever he’s needed to play for a contender.

Ziegler was also eager to reunite with infielder Aaron Hill, who the Sox acquired from Milwaukee on Thursday. Ziegler and Hill played together in Arizona and met for the first time in the Cape Cod League during college.

Ziegler played a year in Chatham and then one in Harwich, long before he knew he’d play in Massachusetts again.

“Looking back on that I’m grateful for that experience because it kind of gave me a taste for the northeast and so this isn’t a big culture shock for me,” Ziegler said.

Nora Princiotti can be reached at nora.princiotti@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @NoraPrinciotti.