Koji Uehara's season may soon come to an end.
Koji Uehara's season may soon come to an end. (USATSI)

Following his latest meltdown on Thursday night, the Red Sox are considering shutting closer Koji Uehara down for the rest of the season. He served up two solo home runs to turn a 4-3 ninth inning lead into a 5-4 walk-off loss to the Yankees.

Uehara, 39, has now allowed runs in five of his last six appearances, totaling eight runs in 4 2/3 innings. Here is what manager John Farrell told reporters following Thursday's loss, courtesy of WEEI.com's Alex Speier:

“Anytime you give up a lead in the fashion that we did, those are tough games to take. We’d given Koji eight days off, got him an inning of work the other night and still the lack of finish of his split is what allowed a couple pitches to the middle of the plate for a couple home runs,” Farrell told reporters. “From viewing it and even talking to Koji, it’s the finish, whether it’s the intensity behind the delivery of the pitch, on occasion he showed it, the first one had good depth to it on the swing and miss, but the consistency to it, which he’s been so good with, that’s lacking.

“[How the team uses Uehara going forward will] be a situation where I’ll talk with Koji first, what our plan will be, whether that’s extended rest, whether that’s the potential of shutting him down, that, we just walked off the field and out of respect to Koji, respect for what he’s done for us after two outstanding years, we’re not in position to announce that right now.”

Uehara told reporters his mechanics were a mess on Thursday night and he took responsibility for the loss. Since the start of last season, Uehara has thrown the ninth most relief innings (135 1/3) and made the 15th most relief appearances (135) in baseball. That doesn't count the team's postseason run.

Already this year Uehara has allowed more runs (18 to 10), more hits (50 to 33) and more home runs (10 to 5) than last regular season despite throwing many fewer innings (61 1/3 to 74 1/3). Given his age, fatigue could easily be a factor.

Uehara is due to become a free agent after the season, though the Red Sox expressed interest in bringing him back prior to his struggles. The Red Sox also reportedly declined several trade offers for their closer at the July 31 deadline.

Boston comes into Friday at 61-79, tied for the fourth worst record in baseball, so shutting Uehara down won't have any sort of impact on their postseason chances.