NEW YORK -- There haven't been nearly as many save opportunities for him to work this season, but Koji Uehara's numbers remain ridiculously good.
Uehara posted his 24th save Wednesday night, preserving a 2-1 lead in the ninth inning. It marked the 14th straight save opportunity converted by Uehara, who has allowed just one run dating back to June 24.
The one run allowed was a walkoff homer by Mike Trout in the first game of the second half, resulting in a loss to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
There have been times that John Farrell has had to get creative in finding Uehara some work, just so he can remain sharp.
"There's been time when we've gone three or four days where he hasn't gotten into game,'' said Farrell, "but you don't like to go too much further than that. When we've been in games that are either tied or we're down a run, that's when we've used him, which is not a normal situation for a closer. But things have changed right now.
"And Koji's smart. He understands where we are. There's communication with him before games and in-game. Late in the game, if there's a situation where we're down a run, we'll call down and ask him if today's a day he wants an inning.''
Even with fewer save chances because of the team's poor performance, Uehara's 24 saves still rank him fifth in the American League.
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''Koji's been outstanding,'' agreed Farrell. "There was a stretch coming out of spring training (with a hamstring injury) where he was still
in spring training mode and there was a series in Baltimore where there were a lot of splits (reliance on split-finger fastball), a lot of extra-base hits involved. But since that point in time, there's been an equal distribution of the fastball and the split. He's been consistent, effective and the velocity got back to a normal level. The action on the split has been there.
"He's been very good for us.''
Indeed, since the Baltimore series in April, Uehara has pitched to a 2.04 ERA and has held opposing hitters to a .176 batting average while striking out 40 in 35 1/3 innings while walking just nine.