Uehara dominant in early outings for Red Sox

TORONTO -- Perhaps not enough was made of the acquisition of reliever Koji Uehara during the offseason.

In his first two appearances with the Red Sox, Uehara has retired all six batters he has faced, throwing a total of 14 pitches.

After Felix Doubront opened the sixth by giving up a double on Friday night, Uehara struck out the next two batters and then got a flyout. He bounced off the mound with emotion.

"Well, he's going to be a one-inning guy," said manager John Farrell. "The number of pitches he's thrown has been about as minimal as you can get. The urge, or the tendency, is going to be to call his name all the time. He loves to compete. You see the energy he comes off the field with after completing an inning.

"Fortunately we've got the depth that we do, and the quality that we do. We'll have the ability to spread some things out and Koji will be a guy who will factor all those things."

The 38-year-old Uehara posted a 2.42 ERA for the Rangers last season.

"He did pitch on back-to-back days a few times last year, but we have to consider that, not taking anything away from him, but he's had a long career -- and a very successful one," said Farrell. "We've got to manage the physical side of that."