As if we needed another reason to love Koji Uehara, the Boston Red Sox closer provided us with one for the ages Friday night.
Uehara put a scare into everyone at the end of Friday’s 7-2 win over the Detroit Tigers, when his last pitch of the game was hit right back at him on a scorcher from Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler.
Uehara was in obvious pain, but X-rays fortunately came back negative, and the 40-year-old joked with reporters after the game in good spirits.
After he left the ballpark, Uehara took to Twitter to provide some status updates.
First, he let everyone know he didn’t fracture his wrist: “I didn’t fracture it. We’re good.”
[tweet https://twitter.com/TeamUehara/status/629860965765361664 align=’center’]
Then he tweeted a photo of his wrist wrapped in an Ace bandage underneath a brace, saying the wrist was “pretty swollen.”
[tweet https://twitter.com/TeamUehara/status/629873625533915136 align=’center’]
Someone replied saying “it looks painful.” Koji, unamused, simply responded “it is painful.”
Like many of us, he enjoys a nice cold beer after work. But between the injury and his brace, the process of opening and holding a beer was painful. Frustrated, he took to Twitter to vent.
[tweet https://twitter.com/TeamUehara/status/629892713014554625 align=’center’]
“(It’s) hard to drink beer >_<,” he tweeted, along with a frustrated emoticon face. “Patience, patience.”
[tweet https://twitter.com/TeamUehara/status/629899950877446144 align=’center’]
If we took a hit off the wrist like that, we’d probably want a beer, too. For both Koji’s and the Red Sox’s sake, let’s hope that wrist heals up soon.
Thumbnail photo via Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY Sports Images
