Red Sox move Walker Buehler to bullpen in rotation shuffle

The Boston Red Sox moved veteran right-hander Walker Buehler from their starting rotation to the bullpen Friday, manager Alex Cora said before the team’s game in New York. The decision, communicated to Buehler by Cora and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow on Thursday night, comes with the club in a tight wild card race and with uncertainty about who will fill the vacated rotation spot.

Buehler, 31, struggled as a starter this season, posting a 5.40 ERA in 22 starts with 82 strikeouts in 110 innings and a 1.56 WHIP. His strikeout rate and walk rate are career lows and highs respectively, and he has allowed 21 home runs, numbers that helped prompt the move. Cora said the club will determine how to use Buehler in relief, perhaps for one inning or multiple innings, and emphasized that the conversation was professional. Buehler acknowledged the change as the first of its kind in his career and said he viewed it as an opportunity to reset.

“It gives me an opportunity to kind of reset in some ways,” Buehler said, adding that he wanted to try to embrace the role and help the team down the stretch. Cora said he still believes in Buehler and called him “a big part” of what the Red Sox...