Koji Uehara has shined in his new role as the Red Sox’ closer.
The 38-year-old reliever pitched three innings this week and didn’t allow a single hit or walk. He had six strikeouts in his perfect week and picked up three saves.
Uehara, who’s known to put an exclamation mark on his appearances with some enthusiastic high fives, lowered his season ERA to 1.91 and his WHIP to 0.79 after the impressive week. He’s struck out 48 batters in 33 innings and has batters hitting just .162 against him.
Uehara now has four saves on the season. His single-season career high is 13, which came in 2010 with the Orioles.