Hirokazu Sawamura

Red Sox reliever Hirokazu Sawamura has been dealing with soreness in his right hip and will not be available to pitch out of the bullpen in Thursday’s series finale against the Astros, manager Alex Cora said. Per Cora, Sawamura first experienced discomfort in his hip during his most recent outing...

Manager Alex Cora said Sawamura (hip) will be available Friday against the Blue Jays, Alex Speier of The Boston Globe reports. Sawamura last pitched Monday and Cora revealed Thursday that the right-hander wasn't available for the series finale against Houston because of soreness in his right hip. The discomfort seems to have subsided, with the reliever now a "full go," per Cora. He'll look to contribute out of the Boston bullpen in the series opener.

Manager Alex Cora said Sawamura is dealing with a sore right hip and won't be available out of the bullpen Thursday for the Red Sox's game against the Astros, Bill Koch of The Providence Journal reports. Boston will hold off on placing Sawamura on the injured list for now, though...

The Red Sox pulled off a huge sweep over the Yankees this past weekend, and they were able to do so for a number of reasons. Some of that was due to talent on the field and how the teams were going, but Boston also got a little motivation from Brett Gardner. (John Tomase; NBC Sports Boston)

Sawamura (2-0) allowed one walk and struck out two over 1.1 scoreless innings to pick up the win in Monday's 5-3 victory over Miami. Sawamura entered with two out and two men on in the sixth inning, then he walked a batter to load the bases before getting Starling Marte on a splitter to end the threat. It was another example of manager Alex Cora's growing confidence in the reliever, who has a 0.93 ERA and 16 strikeouts over his last 9.2 innings, including a marvelous five-strikeout effort against the Yankees last Friday.

Sawamura walked one and struck out five over two scoreless innings in Friday's 5-2 win over the Yankees. The Yankees plated two runs (one earned) against tiring starter Nathan Eovaldi in the sixth inning, so it was up to Boston's bullpen to preserve the lead. Normally in a tight game, Adam Ottavino, who was warming during the sixth, would be involved as a setup option, but manager Alex Cora let an impressive Sawamura pitch the seventh and eighth innings. Since Cora mentioned the pitcher's propensity for giving up home runs, Sawamura has not allowed one over his last 8.1 innings (eight appearances).

Red Sox manager Alex Cora wants Sawamura to elevate his fastball more often as a way to limit home runs, Ian Browne of MLB.com reports. Sawamura has allowed four home runs over 14.1 innings (2.5 HR/9), and Cora feels that's because the pitcher keeps his fastball down in the zone. "Actually, we want him to elevate," said Cora. "[Friday], his velocity was up, it was 97-98 [mph]. But at this level, it seems like fastball down in the zone, that's where they're hunting and they put good swings on it. Besides that he's been OK." It used to be that pitching down in the zone was preferable as it would lead to more groundballs than a damaging hit, but those days appear to be over. "I'm not saying, just throw it up there all the time, you've got to get ahead, but you can expand up," Cora added. If Sawamura can make that adjustment, he can be used in high-leverage spots.

Jen McCaffrey takes a look back at how the Red Sox have gotten to this unexpected place — first place, to be exact — a month into the season. (Jen McCaffrey; The Athletic) Some savvy acquisitions from Chaim Bloom has certainly been part of the success story. (Jason Mastrodonato; Boston Herald)

ARLINGTON, Texas — Red Sox left-handed starter Martín Pérez had thrown 82 pitches when manager Alex Cora replaced him with reliever Hirokazu Sawamura with two outs in the sixth inning Thursday. Sawamura entered with the game tied 1-1 and a runner at first base who had reached on an error...

For the most part things are pretty good with the Red Sox, even after an ugly loss on Saturday. There are, however, some issues, including Franchy Cordero looking lost at the plate right now. (Justin Leger; NBC Sports Boston) Something that can be easy to forget is that players from...

Sawamura (1-0) picked up his first MLB win, allowing one hit and striking out three over 1.1 innings in Friday's victory over Seattle. Sawamura entered during the fourth inning for starter Martin Perez, whose lack of command forced manager Alex Cora to go the bullpen early. The pitcher, who entered with two on and two out, struck out Mitch Haniger to prevent any more damage. The Japanese right-hander started Haniger with a couple of sliders and a four-seamer before putting him away with a splitter, a pitch with a nasty reputation. "I think the action is a lot better," manager Alex Cora said about Sawamura's splitter, per Christopher Smith of MassLive.com. "And it started in Minnesota I think. He threw one at 95 (mph) with great action. It feels like little by little, it's getting there." Sawamura has allowed just two runs over 10 innings (1.80 ERA) while holding opposing batters to a .182 batting average.

Red Sox starter Martín Pérez lacked command and lasted only 3 ⅔ innings Friday. But the bullpen, beginning with Hirokazu Sawamura, held the lead. Sawamura inherited two runners with two outs in the fourth after J.P. Crawford’s RBI single cut the Red Sox lead to 3-2. The righty struck out...

Sawamura walked one and hit a batter over a scoreless inning in Tuesday's 6-5 extra-innings win over the Rays. This was Sawamura's third late-inning appearance, and he remains unscored upon while dancing around three walks, one hit and a hit batsman. He, along with Adam Ottavino, Darwinzon Hernandez and Matt Barnes are considered the high-leverage, late-inning crew.

While the 2021 season did not get off to the best of starts for the Red Sox on Friday, it did to some degree for Japanese reliever Hirokazu Sawamura. The soon-to-be 33-year-old right-hander made his Red Sox — and major-league — debut in the ninth inning of Friday’s 3-0 Opening Day loss to the Orioles.

Pitching in a game that was broadcast on NESN for the first time this spring, Red Sox reliever Hirokazau Sawamura put together what was without a doubt his most impressive outing with his new team thus far. Coming into Wednesday night’s Grapefruit League contest against the Orioles, the Japanese right-hander...

Sawamura struck out two over 1.1 perfect innings in Wednesday's spring game against Baltimore. It was his first clean outing of the spring. In each of his three previous appearances, the right-hander had allowed at least one hit and walk; in fact, he walked three batters in each of his two first outings. Boston manager Alex Cora was encouraged by the results, per Christopher Smith of MassLive.com. "You can tell he feels more comfortable," Cora said. "He's been able to throw sliders for strikes. Today was his best fastball out of all the outings." The Red Sox are chalking up his early struggles to adapting to a new league and culture. Sawamura is expected to serve as a setup option late in games.

Welcome to the annual Over The Monster One Big Question season preview series. Over the next 40(ish) days, we will be running through every player on the 40-man roster and identifying a key question for them pertaining to the coming season. This should run us up to the start of the season, at least as it is scheduled now. We will go through the roster in alphabetical order. For the most part, these will run Monday through Friday every week running up to the week before Opening Day, though expect some weekend posts mixed in as well as the 40-man is expected to continue to be altered before the start of the season. You can catch up with every post by following this link. Today we take a look at Hirokazu Sawamura.