Uehara Looks Good in Loss

When rosters expand on Sept. 1, the Texas Rangers will have plenty of arms in their bullpen as guys like Tanner Scheppers will undoubtedly return to the big-league club. But they might be getting a big boost to an already dominant bullpen with the return of an injured player, as Koji Uehara looked great in Wednesday's loss to Tampa Bay.

Uehara, a deceptive righty, is fantastic against left-handers, which kind of cancels out the problem of the Rangers only have two lefties โ€” and really only one reliable one โ€” in their pen in Robbie Ross and an up-and-down Michael Kirkman.

On Wednesday night, Uehara followed up a scoreless inning against Minnesota over the weekend by tossing 1 2/3 scoreless innings against the Rays in an 8-4 Rangers' loss.

Uehara got two strikeouts and also allowed two hits, but didn't let anything cross the plate.

"I was pretty satisfied with the [splitfinger fastballs] and my four seamers, but the second inning I don't think I was mentally where I needed to be," said Uehara, through an interpreter after the game.

With Alexi Ogando set as the 7th inning guy/multi-inning guy, Mike Adams in the set-up role and Joe Nathan entrenched as the team's closer, Uehara only adds more depth to what is proving to be the best bullpen in the game.

Copyright FREEL - NBC Local Media
Contact Us