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Eovaldi emerging as the Boston Red Sox’s fourth starter in their upcoming American League Division Series.The news , from Ken Rosenthal of the The Athletic, had Eovaldi jumping ahead of the struggling Eduardo Rodriguez to start Game 4 of the American League Division Series — because of his success against the New York Yankees.“We saw what happened this week,” said manager Alex Cora. “We have a pretty good idea who matches well with the Yankees.”Article continues below ...Last week, Eovaldi, picked up in July from the Tampa Bay Rays, pitched six shutout innings against the Yankees in the Bronx, which would be the site of a potential Game 4 of the first round. Rodriguez had a poor start in that same series.The Red Sox, of course, are also scouting the Oakland A’s, who will play the Yankees in a wild-card game.“(Rodriguez) likely is out of the division series rotation with Nathan Eovaldi opening the series in the bullpen and then being able to start Game 4 if necessary,” Rosenthal said.Meanwhile , Eovaldi, who faces the Baltimore Orioles — and Dylan Bundy — in the opener of a three-game series and the start of the regular season-ending seven-game homestand Monday night, hasn’t won in his last eight starts, going 0-3. He started his stay with the Red Sox with a pair of no-run outings, but has been sporadic since.The right-hander is 5-7 with a 3.98 ERA overall this season, 2-3 with a 3.64 ERA in nine starts with Boston.Eovaldi is 2-0 with a 5.16 ERA in six career starts against the Orioles.The Red Sox equaled the franchise record of 105 wins with a victory in Cleveland Friday night — a night after celebrating winning the American League East in New York — but then lost Saturday and Sunday nights. They fell to the Indians in 11 innings Sunday night.Bundy, like most of the Orioles, is suffering through a miserable season, coming in at 8-15 with a 5.37 ERA. He is 1-6 in his last nine starts and is 0-2 in four starts against the Red Sox this season.The Red Sox are 14-2 against the Orioles this season, 6-1 at Fenway Park — after Baltimore went 6-3 against the Sox at Fenway each of the last two seasons.Caleb Joseph is 5-for-9 (.556) with a home run, Adam Jones 6-for-17 (.353) and Chris Davis 4-for-13 (.308) with two homers against Eovaldi.The Red Sox have some strong numbers against Bundy.Brock Holt , who has been so vital for his team down the stretch, is 8-for-13 (.615), Steve Pearce 3-for-8 (.375), Sandy Leon 4-for-12 (.333) with a homer, Xander Bogaerts 9-for-29 (.310) with two homers and Andrew Benintendi 8-for-26 (.308) with a home run.Mookie Betts is at just .258 (8-for-31) but has three home runs against Eovaldi, while Eduardo Nunez is 1-for-8 (.125), Mitch Moreland 4-for-24 (.167) and J.D. Martinez 2-for-11 (.182).With the Red Sox concentrating on getting through the final week while setting up their postseason pitching and trying to prevent injuries, there’s no telling what kind of lineup Cora might put out onto the field in this series.Bogaerts left Sunday night’s game during an at-bat with left shoulder soreness, the move announced as precautionary. Eduardo Nunez remained out with a sore knee but is expected to return early in the week.Mike Wright came on during the first Yankee at-bat of the game after Alex Cobb suffered a recurrence of his blister trouble. Wright walked the bases loaded (finishing the opening walk) and allowed three runs in that first inning but that was all for the Yankees for the day.“I mean usually you’re kind of aware whether or not you’re the long guy for the day,” Wright said. “Obviously Alex had issues with his fingers before, so we were kind of on high alert. Once I saw somebody go out I was pretty much ready to go in the game.” ATLANTA (AP) — Cardinals manager Mike Shildt loved watching Yadier Molina grind out a big at-bat in the eighth inning.With the bases loaded and two outs in a two-run game , Shildt got exactly what he wanted from Molina, a veteran star catcher who has helped St. Louis chase down plenty of playoff spots during his 15-year career.“He gets down 0-2, and you can just watch him bearing down,” Shildt said. “He got the count full and got a base hit to score two and took advantage of the (error) and we were able to clear the bases there.”Paul DeJong hit a two-run homer, Molina added a two-run single in the four-run eighth and St. Louis won its third straight game with an 8-1 victory over the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night.Austin Gomber pitched five effective innings for St. Louis, which holds a slim lead for the second NL wild card. The Cardinals top the National League with 36 victories since All-Star break, and their 43 road wins this season rank second.Atlanta’s division lead dropped to 5½ games over Philadelphia as the Braves lost their fourth in a row after a season-best six-game winning streak. They are 38-38 at SunTrust Park and have dropped 14 of 18 at home.The Braves’ magic number remained at seven as they try to clinch a division title for the first time in five years. Philadelphia beat the New York Mets 5-2.Atlanta manager Brian Snitker can sense his team is pressing.“We’ve been down this road before a few times this year,” Snitker said. “All it takes is one game to get you rolling and get you back on the run. We’ve been resilient. We’ve come back before. There’s no reason to think we won’t do it again.”Anibal Sanchez (6-6) allowed four hits and two runs and struck out six in five innings. He faced the minimum through his first three innings and retired his first batter in the fourth before Jose Martinez singled and DeJong hit his 19th homer.DeJong, who is hitting .478 with four homers and 10 RBIs in five career games against Atlanta, added a run-scoring single in the eighth off Dan Winkler. DeJong’s homer was his 14th on the road.“I think he’s figuring out he’s a run producer,” Shildt said. “We’re seeing a good swing , and the timing is there.”Gomber (6-1) gave up six hits, one run and three walks. He struck out five for his fifth victory in his last six decisions, but it wasn’t easy for the rookie.After Ronald Acuna Jr. hit his 26th homer to begin the third, Gomber escaped a bases-loaded jam on Ender Inciarte’s lineout to end the inning. Gomber got Inciarte to fly out to strand a runner at third to end the fifth.Gomber felt a boost in confidence after his last start ended with a 9-7 loss to the Dodgers.“I threw a lot of pitches (98) in five innings,” he said. “It was one of those days with a lot of traffic on the bases, but you’ve got to figure a way to get out of it.”Molina’s single in the eighth off Sam Freeman scored three runs. Molina was credited with two RBIs, and a third run scored because Acuna made an error in left field.Tyler O’Neill, who entered as a pinch-runner in the eighth, had a run-scoring double, and Marcell Ozuna followed with an RBI single to make it 8-1.STRONG BULLPENJohn Brebbia and Jordan Hicks faced the minimum in the sixth and seventh, Dominic Leone pitched around a walk in the eighth and Mike Mayers faced five batters in the ninth. The Cardinals improved to 69-6 when leading after seven.STILL STRUGGLINGAfter walking 39 in their last five games , the Braves didn’t issue a free pass until the eighth, when Jonny Venters, Winkler and Freeman each walked a batter. Of the 35 runs allowed on this homestand, 15 reached with a walk.WELCOME SOUTHSt. Louis has won eight straight games in Atlanta dating to 2016, the best run since the Cardinals took 11 road games in a row against the Braves from 1967-68.UP NEXTCardinals: RHP Jack Flaherty (8-7, 2.86 ERA) will make his first career appearance against Atlanta. The 22-year-old rookie pitched six innings, allowing four hits and one run, in losing his last start 3-0 to the Dodgers.Braves: RHP Touki Toussaint (1-1, 4.67 ERA) gets his fourth career start as he faces St. Louis for the first time. The 22-year-old rookie is 1-1 with a 3.31 ERA as a starter.
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