Red Sox closer Koji Uehara out for season

BOSTON (AP) — Boston Red Sox closer Koji Uehara will miss the rest of the season with a broken right wrist.

Uehara was hit by a line drive off the bat of Ian Kinsler, the final out of Friday night’s game against the Detroit Tigers. The Red Sox right-hander stuck his arm out to deflect the ball, then retrieved it and made the play at first base.

Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Koji Uehara is helped off the field after a game against the Detroit Tigers last week in Detroit. Uehara is out for the rest of the season with a broken wrist. AP photo

“I consider my whole body to be the glove once I release the ball,” Uehara told reporters in Detroit after the game.

Although initial X-rays were negative, Uehara returned to Boston ahead of the team for more tests. The team said Monday that he was diagnosed with a non-displaced distal radius fracture in his right wrist.

A Red Sox spokesman said Monday that Uehara will be placed on the disabled list. The 40-year-old native of Japan, who made the All-Star Game last year, is expected to make a full recovery.

“I was amazed he was able to complete the play,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said at the time.

Uehara was the closer for Boston’s 2013 World Series championship team, getting the final outs in the Game 6 clincher against the St. Louis Cardinals. He is 2-4 with a 2.23 ERA and 25 saves in 27 opportunities for the last-place Red Sox this season.

The team is expected to rely on Junichi Tazawa and new acquisition Jean Machi for ninth-inning work.

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