Red Sox's Nick Pivetta: Moving to bullpen

Red Sox manager Alex Cora said after Wednesday's 12-3 win over the Mariners that Pivetta has been moved to the bullpen, Chris Cotillo of The Springfield Republican reports.

Decisions needed to be made, as the Red Sox operated with a six-man rotation for the past week and are set to welcome a seventh starter, Garrett Whitlock (elbow), back from the injured list next week. Pivetta will find himself as the odd man out of the rotation and should be available to make his debut as a reliever during the Red Sox's weekend series in San Diego, once he gets a chance to recover from the 98-pitch workload he handled in his start Tuesday. Pivetta's 6.30 ERA over eight starts made him a logical choice to lose his rotation spot, and Tanner Houck could soon join Pivetta in the bullpen if the Red Sox decide to scale back to five starters once Whitlock is back.