We know who's closing (updated)

By Roch Kubatko

Orioles

September 08, 2010, 11:42am

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You might be tempted to run Jim Johnson back out to the mound in the bottom of the ninth. He's retired the last four batters he's faced and thrown 16 pitches in 1 1/3 innings. But that's not how manager Buck Showalter rolls these days. Koji Uehara is warming in the bullpen. He'll take the ball as the Orioles try to take the final game of this series and break out the brooms. Uehara has allowed four earned runs in his last 22 appearances covering 25 innings. The Orioles will gladly take another scoreless inning today. He just needs to get past Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher. Derek Jeter just committed a rare error. Even more rare would be a base hit. Update: A-Rod singled on the first pitch he saw from Uehara. Robinson Cano flied to center on an 0-2 pitch, but Nick Swisher hit a walk-off homer to left field after getting ahead, 2-0. Painful. Uehara rarely falls behind a hitter, which was the first oddity. It's also his first blown save in eight chances. Swisher reached out for an 88 mph fastball and ended the game. The Orioles still won the series, an impressive accomplishment, but it feels real empty right now.