TORONTO -- The Red Sox made what should be their final September callup on Friday, recalling lefty Henry Owens from Triple-A Pawtucket.
Unlike last year, when Owens pitched for the Red Sox every fifth day in September, he is essentially an insurance policy this time in case someone in the starting rotation is injured.
Clay Buchholz is currently filling in for knuckleballer Steven Wright, who is out with a right shoulder injury.
"We'll keep him stretched out as best as possible," said Red Sox manager John Farrell. "We brought him here to provide some starter depth if something unforeseen were to take place. That will be a little bit of a challenge to keep him stretched out as I mentioned. This past Monday was his last outing, so we'll have to be creative to do that. He's understanding of his role, coming here."
After making 11 starts last year, the 24-year-old Owens wasn't able to pitch his way into the mix with any regularity at the Major League level this season.
In a three-start stint between April 24 and May 5, Owens walked 13 over 12 1/3 innings and had a 5.11 ERA. He made a spot start in Detroit on Aug. 21, giving up eight hits over five innings.
At Triple-A, Owens was 10-7 with a 3.53 ERA, but he had 81 walks over 137 2/3 innings.
Worth noting
• All signs continue to point toward left fielder Andrew Benintendi being activated during next week's homestand. Benintendi has made consistent progress from a left knee sprain suffered on Aug. 24.
"Today was a very good day for him," said Farrell. "He feels like he's running at 100 percent intensity. The one last thing with baserunning that we have to accomplish is just getting him to slide. So we'll look to get him on a sliding pad tomorrow at the earliest. It doesn't get us any more clarity on when he might be first activated, but the fact that he's had no pushback from the knee when he's ramping up the work -- he's in a good spot right now."
• Though Koji Uehara was lights-out in his return to action on Wednesday, he will pitch in a couple of more low-leverage situations at least before re-emerging as a lead setup man.
"I still think there's a need for another one or two," said Farrell. "Yeah, I think in fairness to him, we've got to build off of that. I wish there was another way to do it, but he needs action, he needs activity. We'll look to find those opportunities."