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Okajima retires 3 years after final MLB game

REUTERS/Tim Shaffer

Former Boston Red Sox reliever Hideki Okajima officially announced his retirement from baseball Thursday, three years since he last appeared on a major-league mound.

The Japanese lefty threw out the first pitch of Boston's series finale with New York - the penultimate game of Alex Rodriguez's Yankees career - and informed members of the media he was calling it quits.

Reports emerged last month that Okajima had retired, but the 40-year-old told reporters Thursday he wanted to make it official with his first team stateside.

Signed as a free agent with Boston in 2006, Okajima won the All-Star fan vote in his first MLB season, compiling a 2.22 ERA and 0.97 WHIP for the 2007 world champion Red Sox. He went on to play four more seasons in Boston, pitching to a 3.11 ERA with 215 strikeouts over 246 1/3 innings.

Prior to the 2012 campaign, Okajima signed as a free agent with the Yankees, but was released during spring training that year. He joined the Athletics the following season, appearing in just five games while pitching the final outing of his career on June 13, 2013.

Following two seasons in Japan, Okajima returned to the U.S. in February of this year and signed a minor-league deal with the Orioles. He was released in March.

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