Hideki Okajima allowed 12 of the first 15 inherited runners to score this season, but has stranded the last two inherited runners. Okajima allowed only four of 23 inherited runners to score during last year’s brilliant All-Star season.
Hideki Okajima didn’t have much room to grow and improve this season after last year’s whirlwind big league debut.
The 32-year-old southpaw has predictably struggled a bit this season in his setup role and has caused a domino effect in the rest of Boston’s bullpen this year.
But Okie looks like he’s got his groove back in the month of July. Heading into last night’s action in Seattle, he has a perfect 0.00 ERA this month in five appearances. In addition, he has walked five and struck out four batters in four innings pitched, and the lefty has begun mastering the fastball/ curveball/split-finger changeup combination that baffled batters last season.
“It felt like a nightmare when I was pitching last month and not getting the results that I wanted,” said Okajima, who has a 2.82 ERA in 39 games out of the Sox bullpen this season. “I feel like I’m in a much better place now both mentally and physically, and it has felt good to pitch well again.”
Sox pitching coach John Farrell is emboldened by Okajima’s improvement during his last handful of
appearances, and the Boston pitching guru thinks it comes down to the lefty putting the pedal to the metal.
There’s been so much talk of the Sox searching for left-handed relief help, and names like Colorado Rockies lefty Brian Fuentes and Pittsburgh Pirates lefty Damaso Marte have been tossed out as potential trade candidates.
But the prices are sky-high, and it could be that a reinvigorated Okajima is the answer Sox officials have searched for all along.
“Seeing his interaction among his teammates, he’s feeling better and confident out on the mound. Both he and Daisuke have learned quite a bit about making adjustments in this league,” Farrell. “There might have been a tendency to pace himself through so many games during this season, but I think he had success when he was being aggressive and not pacing himself so much [last season].
“There’s been a conscious adjustment to change his approach in the last handful of games and I think we’ve seen a big difference in Okie,” added Farrell.
