NEW YORK — By the time Craig Kimbrel entered the Red Sox clubhouse to a sea of champagne, popping corks, and beer baths, the agony of his ninth-inning meltdown had dulled. Euphoria didn’t hide in the corner, it was right in front of him. And Kimbrel put on a pair of goggles and did his share of spraying champagne over teammates in celebration of the Red Sox winning the American League East title by virtue of a loss by the Blue Jays.

“On a personal level it was very frustrating,’’ said Kimbrel, who talked about a ninth inning he’ll likely never forget, coincidentally on the fifth anniversary of his blown save in the final game of the 2011 season against the Phillies, which knocked the Braves out of playoff contention.

“I just threw more balls than strikes,’’ Kimbrel added. “I didn’t get a chance to get out of the inning. But Joe Kelly came in and almost got us out of it.’’

Well, except for the grand slam Kelly allowed to Mark Teixeira in a 5-3 walkoff loss to the Yankees.

To backtrack, Clay Buchholz had pitched a whale of a game for six innings, allowing one hit. Brad Ziegler pitched an effective seventh in a 0-0 game. The Red Sox scored three in the eighth, including on a chop hit by Mookie Betts that hit in front of home plate and bounded over Chase Headley’s head into left field, scoring two. A passed ball by phenom Gary Sanchez allowed the third run to score.

Koji Uehara preserved the 3-0 lead in the eighth. In the ninth, Kimbrel came on and allowed a single to center by Brett Gardner, and then walked Jacoby Ellsbury and Sanchez, with a wild pitch in between. Kimbrel then walked former Braves teammate Brian McCann to force in a run. That’s when manager John Farrell went to Kelly, who got a strikeout and a pop out before Teixeira sent himself off into retirement in grand style.

Oh, well. Before that pitch was thrown the Red Sox knew they had clinched. The only question was would they celebrate after a loss? And boy, did they.

“As John [Farrell] told me, we’re not going to let one game get in the way of what we did this year,’’ said Kimbrel. “Like I said, it’s personally frustrating because you never want to do that, especially in this scenario where Clay and the bullpen did a great job ahead of me. And then for me to come in and do that, it’s rough. But we clinched, we’re going to the playoffs, we won the division, and we’re excited by that. I would have loved to close it out and have us win the game. I wanted that more than anything.’’

Asked whether he was a bit uptight given the situation, Kimbrel said, “No, I was pretty calm, I thought. I just didn’t throw strikes.’’

Kimbrel said he was putting it behind him, as all closers need to do in these situations, just as Kelly will have to put his disastrous outing behind him.

The Red Sox haven’t exactly draped themselves in glory in this series, first David Price being unable to close out the division with a 6-4 loss Tuesday, and then the horrifying ninth inning that resulted in the Yankees’ walkoff win Wednesday.

Yet there was certainly reason for Kimbrel, Kelly, and their teammates to celebrate.

There was certainly reason for Buchholz to be content. The man of many hairdos was soaked for sure from the champagne bath he received from teammates, but Buchholz deserved the love after a topsy-turvy season where he was many things — some bad, some good, sometimes a starter, sometimes a reliever.

Say what you will about Buchholz’s strange season, but he went pitch for pitch against Yankees righthander Bryan Mitchell on Wednesday. Farrell might have given Buchholz a quick hook, but he knew he had his bullpen perfectly set up with Ziegler, Uehara, and Kimbrel.

Although Kimbrel failed at his job, Buchholz did his.

The only hit off Buchholz was a fourth-inning infield single by Gardner. Buchholz walked Gardner in the first and sixth innings, but there was nothing more than that. He left after six having thrown only 89 pitches. It appears certain now that Buchholz will be this team’s fourth starter in the playoffs with Steven Wright’s status up in the air and Buchholz submitting four strong starts in his last five.

And you don’t deprive Kimbrel and the team of their celebration because of how hard it was to get here. The AL East is the toughest division in baseball. And for that reason, clinching, no matter how they did it, was truly earned.

The Red Sox conquered their brutal August/September schedule, where almost two-thirds of the games were on the road. They played superb baseball over the last two weeks (winning 11 of their last 13 games), which enabled them to separate from the Blue Jays and Orioles.

The only thing left is gaining home-field advantage.

“It’s a long season and we won enough games to win the division,’’ Kimbrel said. “That was really special. So I’m going to enjoy it. Everyone in this room has picked me up. They all know how bad I felt. But tomorrow’s another day and I’ll be better. I know I will.’’

And the Red Sox will be AL East champions, worst to first, when they wake smelling like champagne.

Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickcafardo.