Koji Uehara strikes out the side in ninth, says he’s feeling fatigued | masslive.com

BOSTON — Koji Uehara might be a perfectionist, albeit one with a light sense of humor.

He had one of those dominating ninth innings again, one where he struck out the side on 13 pitches while making professional hitters nearly trip over themselves swinging so silly at Uehara’s magic splitter.

“I didn’t feel that I was sharp at all,” he said after finishing the Boston Red Sox’s 4-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night. “Mechanical wise, I don’t think I’m quite there. My split, I don’t think I was satisfied how it was acting at all.”

Uehara now has a 1.23 ERA, 22 strikeouts and three walks in 14 2/3 innings this season. But because these perfect outings have become the norm, a few less-than-perfect performances lately had Uehara and the Red Sox studying video and trying to find some mechanical fix.

He has been elevating his splitter at times lately, and when a pitch in the mid-80s isn’t working properly, even one as nasty as Uehara’s splitter becomes at least somewhat hittable.

In Uehara’s last six games prior to Wednesday, opponents had been hitting .364 off him.

“I think it’s more accumulated fatigue,” he said. “I’m not that young.”

The 39-year-old is on pace to throw 70 innings a year after throwing 88 innings between the regular season and postseason combined. He said he’s mostly over the shoulder injury that caused him to miss a week in early April, but the fatigue is another issue.

Long toss can help that, and he thinks he’s found something in his delivery that could help him hone in on location.

“The last few times out, he’s been across himself with his direction and his delivery and it’s taken away from the crispness and the overall command to his stuff,” said manager John Farrell. “He was able to get back on-line a little bit here (Wednesday) and he was Koji-like as we’ve seen for quite a while.”

via Koji Uehara strikes out the side in ninth, says he’s feeling fatigued | masslive.com.