Nathan Eovaldi will return to the Boston Red Sox's rotation and start Wednesday's game against the Cleveland Indians, unless he has to be used in Tuesday night's game, manager Alex Cora said.
"He just wants to to contribute. He hasn't been able to do it this season the way we planned it and the way he wanted," Cora said. "We still feel he can make an impact."
Eovaldi has been working out of the bullpen since he returned July 20 from elbow surgery in April. In nine games as a reliever, he has a 6.75 ERA and 1.87 WHIP.
"The stuff is playing. The mix of pitches, I don't want to say he's in between, but sometimes as a reliever, you have to simplify it and not go to what you usually do," Cora said. "He did it before. Obviously this is a different stage."
Cora said the plan was to leave Eovaldi in the rotation going forward. Cora said the team hoped Eovaldi could throw about 55 pitches, with the plan being for him to build up his pitch count.
Eovaldi signed a four-year, $68 million contract to remain with the Red Sox last December.
ESPN's Joon Lee contributed to this report.