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PHOENIX — Right-hander Yoshihisa Hirano has been spectacularly efficient in his first season in Arizona Adrian Kempe Jersey , part of the reason the Diamondbacks will enter their four-game series against the San Diego Padres with the best bullpen ERA in the majors.

Hirano may be a major league rookie, but his work the last five seasons as a closer with the Orix Buffaloes in Japan has translated well.

Hirano, 34, had a franchise-record 26-game scoreless streak broken in an 8-4 loss to St. Louis on Wednesday, when he finished one scoreless appearance short of tying former Red Sox right-hander Koji Uehara for the longest such streak by a Japanese-born pitcher in major league history. Even that loss could not diminish the value Hirano has had this season.

Arizona right-hander Shelby Miller is scheduled to face San Diego left-hander Eric Lauer in the first game of the series Thursday.

Arizona manager Torey Lovullo was Boston’s bench coach when Uehara set the record in 2013, so he can provide a comparison of Uehara and Hirano.

“They have the same work habits, which is pretty impressive,” Lovullo said. “They both come in and get their work done pregame. They come in and get their work done postgame. They find themselves healthy and strong and prepared for every single one of their outings.

“They both have a fearlessness to their game and an approach to understanding what needs to happen during each at-bat. They are not afraid to put the ball on the plate with two different pitches. They go out and expect to get outs. Very similar mind-set. Very similar makeup. Very similar confidence.”

Hirano is 2-0 with a 1.43 ERA in 42 appearances. He has 19 holds, fourth in the majors, and he has permitted only one of his 16 inherited runners to score while being primarily used in the seventh inning. Eighth-inning reliever Archie Bradley leads the majors with 22 holds and closer Brad Boxberger has 20 saves.

Uehara began the 2013 season in a similar setup role in the Boston bullpen before advancing to the closer’s role after injuries thinned the relief corps. He finished with 21 saves, a 1.09 ERA and an 0.57 WHIP.

“As soon as he became the closer Youth Dion Phaneuf Jersey , he gave off a certain edge and a certain confidence that was noticeable,” Lovullo said.

“It’s as close to a slam dunk, shut-down ninth-inning save as I’ve ever seen. He had this ability to collect outs and get through innings in 12 pitches or less. It was so quick, the ninth inning was over before it even started. It was a very comfortable setting for all of us. You played the Boston Red Sox in 2013 for eight innings because the ninth inning was over. That’s what I remember.”

Hirano has a 1.01 WHIP, fourth among major league relievers with at least 40 appearances.

“He’s been very versatile,” Lovullo said. “He’s unfazed by any role we have asked him to do. He can pitch in traffic. He can start clean innings. He can get left-handers and right-handers out.”

The Diamondbacks lost two of three to St. Louis and have dropped five of their past six games overall. They took two out of three games in their only other series against the Padres this season, also at Chase Field.

San Diego has slumped over the last 2 1/2 weeks. The Padres have lost three in a row and are 3-13 since beating Atlanta 9-3 behind left-hander Clayton Richard on June 15. They have scored 30 runs in their last 10 games.

“We’re not getting hits with runners in scoring position,” San Diego manager Andy Green told reporters after a two-game sweep in Oakland.

“Sometimes the best thing you can do is relax, go play baseball and enjoy what you’re doing. Then the hits start coming.”

Christian Villanueva hit his 17th homer for the Padres in a 4-2 loss to the A’s Wednesday.

Miller is 0-2 with an 11.42 ERA in two starts this season after returning from a 14-month absence following Tommy John surgery in last May, 2017. He has given up 15 hits and 11 runs in 8 2/3 innings.

Miller is 2-2 with a 4.54 ERA in eight career appearances, including seven starts Dustin Brown Jersey , against the Padres. He had a strong outing against them early last season, giving up four hits and one run in 7 1/3 innings in the third of his four starts before suffering the elbow injury.

Rookie Lauer joined the Padres’ rotation in late April and is 3-5 with a 5.08 ERA in 13 starts this season. He was 2-2 with a 2.76 ERA in six June starts and is 1-2 with a 5.09 ERA in seven road starts.

He has never faced the Diamondbacks.

Jarvis Landry’s return to the Miami Dolphins in 2018 looked a little less likely Wednesday after coach Adam Gase delivered a stinging critique of the excitable receiver’s behavior in the season finale.

Landry and teammate Kenyan Drake were ejected in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Buffalo Bills. Landry was an instigator in the brawl that led to the ejections.

”This last game was probably the pinnacle of what I’ve ever seen with him during a game,” Gase said. ”I don’t think I’ve ever seen it get to a level where it was extremely bad. But the last game was about as embarrassing as I’ve seen in a long time. It was something we can’t have happen.”

Landry, who led the NFL with 112 receptions, can become a free agent this offseason. He has said he wants to remain with the Dolphins, and they’ve said they want him back, but his volatile personality is cause for a concern – especially on a team that went 6-10 in part due to a lack of discipline.

Landry said he was defending himself in the fight but acknowledged the ejections hurt the Dolphins’ comeback bid. They trailed 22-9 at the time and lost 22-16 .

”We’re going on our last drive, and two of our best players on offense aren’t in there,” Gase said. ”That was very frustrating to watch. We need way better control from our best players in the heat of the moment.”

Landry’s latest meltdown will be something to consider in deciding his future with Miami, Gase said.

”You can’t take one isolated incident and overreact, but at the same time we’ve got to make sure we look at everything we’ve been doing over the last couple of years Jonathan Quick Jersey ,” the coach said. ”You look at the body of work and see what direction we want to go.”

Landry’s body of work in four seasons with Miami includes 400 catches, an NFL record for a fourth-year player. He is by far the most high-profile Dolphins player eligible for free agency.

”Philosophically we want to draft, develop and keep as many of our own as possible,” executive vice president of football operations Mike Tannenbaum said. ”So we’ll see what happens with Jarvis and a few other noteworthy free agents. In a perfect world we’d keep them all, but there is a salary cap.”

Gase said he expects Ryan Tannehill to return as the starting quarterback in 2018 after missing the entire season because of a knee injury. He indicated he doesn’t expect quarterback Jay Cutler to be back.

How would the season have been different had Tannehill stayed healthy?

”I’m pretty sure you know my answer,” Gase said with a slight smile. ”But it didn’t happen.”

Gase also said veteran leadership needs to improve next season.

”It’s never going to be the way we want it until guys take control of this thing,” he said. ”You need your leaders to step up and be vocal.”

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