Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Koji Uehara is settling into his new role as the team's closer perfectly.Since taking over the role in the wake of the repeated failures of Andrew Bailey, Uehara helped the Red Sox sweep the Colorado Rockies with his first two saves of the season earlier this week and recorded his third save against the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday.
Uehara is proving to be a valuable asset for the Red Sox relief corps with a 1.97 ERA and 46 strikeouts so far this season. ESPN also reported recently that Uehara throws strikes on 71-percent of his pitches, which puts him second among American League relievers who have at least 10 appearances. Even when he played the role of middle reliever, Uehara showed incredible poise and talent.
The Japanese hurler is also known for his contagious enthusiasm. After striking out the side late in a close game against the Baltimore Orioles on June 15, Uehara started high fiving everyone in the dugout and soon had the whole team smiling and laughing. Even the team's commentators chuckled about Uehara's positive, upbeat attitude. The Red Sox went on to win the game by a score of 5-4.
Although Uehara only pitched two innings once in his last ten games, he continues to improve his ERA and consistently register strikes and strikeouts. Uehara threw just 13 total pitches to complete the sweep of the Rockies Wednesday. During that one-inning stint, he struck out two batters. He revealed after the game that he has the right attitude going into his new role with the team.
"The pressure and the stress is always the same wherever I pitch. So, nothing is different. My approach was the same, so no different feelings at all."
Since giving up two runs on a hit and two walks back on June 9 against the Angels, Uehara's been nearly flawless on the mound. Over that eight-game stretch, he's given up just one hit and struck out 12 of 23 batters faced. He's also allowed just seven total runs in 34 appearances this season with the Red Sox.
This is Uehara's second experience as a closer. He also closed games with the Orioles in 2010, which was his first full season as a relief pitcher. He converted all but two of his 15 save attempts that season once the team designated him as their closer in late August. At the rate he's going this year, he should see a much higher save total by the final game of the season.
Unfortunately, just as Uehara is starting to gel in his new capacity, yet another starter suffered an injury in Thursday's game.
Jon Lester was on his way to pitching another complete game Thursday night against the Blue Jays when he left the game thanks to a jammed hip. Though he said he felt fine after visiting with team doctors and is not likely to miss his next start, it's a scare this team just doesn't need at this stage. Clay Buchholz (9-0, 1.71 ERA) is already out of the starting rotation due to neck and shoulder issues with no definite timetable for his return.
The Red Sox (48-33, 26-15 home) continue to perform well and maintain a growing lead in the AL East even with some serious injury issues and some problems with leaving too many runners on base. Once the squad gets completely healthy and the team starts churning out more lengthy win streaks, their lead will be impossible for any team in the division to overcome.
Look for this team to make a serious World Series run this year as long as they keep putting Uehara in position to generate more saves.
