BASEBALL

BOSTON (AP) - Nathan Eovaldi is staying with the Boston Red Sox, agreeing to a $68 million, four-year contract.

A 28-year-old right-hander who has had a pair of Tommy John surgeries, Eovaldi was acquired by Boston from Tampa Bay on July 25. He went 3-3 with a .33 ERA down the stretch. He made four starts against the Yankees, going 2-0 with a 0.39 ERA, and beat New York in Game 3 of the AL Division Series, when he gave up one run in seven innings.

In six postseason appearances, including two starts, Eovaldi went 2-1 with a 1.61 ERA, a .185 opponent’s batting average, 16 strikeouts, and three walks. He became a free agent after the World Series.

Eovaldi is part of a projected starting rotation that includes Chris Sale, David Price, Rick Porcello and Eduardo Rodriguez.

CLEVELAND (AP) - The Indians have signed starter Carlos Carrasco to a four-year contract extension through the 2022 season.

Carrasco’s deal includes a club option for 2023. Financial terms were not immediately available.

The right-hander went 17-10 with a 3.38 ERA in 30 starts last season for the AL Central champions. He finished with a career-high 231 strikeouts as the Indians became the first team to have four pitchers reach 200 strikeouts in the same season.

The 31-year-old Carrasco has developed into one of the league’s elite starters, and the Indians wanted to lock him up for the future.

Cleveland is still toying with trading either Corey Kluber or Trevor Bauer to address their outfield needs.

Carrasco is 79-62 with a 3.71 ERA in 207 career games. The Indians acquired him from Philadelphia in the July 2009 blockbuster that involved ace Cliff Lee.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray won The Associated Press college football Player of the Year, becoming the second straight Sooners quarterback and fifth overall to win the award since it was established in 1998.

Murray beat out Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa on 56 ballots submitted by AP college football poll voters and announced Thursday. Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins Jr. was third.

“It’s humbling and an honor to be named AP Player of the Year, to be mentioned in the same realm as a lot of great players, a lot of hall of famers,” Murray said. “It’s a special deal for me and hopefully I can continue to make my family and teammates proud.”

Murray received 39 first-place votes and a total of 145 points. Tagovailoa received 13 first-place votes (117 points) and Haskins was listed first on four ballots (55 points).

UNDATED (AP) - The NCAA says the number of enforced targeting penalties in the Football Bowl Subdivision this season was the same as in 2017, ending four straight years of increased calls.

NCAA national coordinator of officials Rogers Redding reported 179 enforced calls in 817 games compared with 179 in 816 games last season.

The final 2017 report originally listed 188 enforced calls, but Redding said the numbers are sometimes adjusted after an offseason review. The NCAA compiles its numbers through reports submitted each week by conferences.

Big Ten and Mid-American Conference coordinator of football officials Bill Carollo said he was pleased to see the targeting penalties level off and the hope is the numbers will come down in 2019.

OLYMPICS

MOSCOW (AP) - The Russian Olympic Committee has appealed a Moscow court ruling which sought to overturn a doping disqualification against a double gold medalist from the Sochi Winter Olympics.

The Moscow City Court ruled last month that bobsledder Alexander Zubkov - who carried the Russian flag at the Sochi opening ceremony - could keep his medals because a Court of Arbitration for Sport decision to uphold his disqualification wasn’t valid in Russia.

That was a challenge to the authority of CAS and the International Olympic Committee.

The ROC said on Thursday the CAS ruling was valid under international law and that ignoring it could lead to more sanctions against Russia from the IOC - even potentially threatening Russia’s place at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

SOCCER

NEW YORK (AP) - A former FIFA official from Guatemala who was cooperating in the U.S. investigation of corruption in international soccer’s governing body was sentenced on Thursday to time served.

Ex-Guatemalan soccer chief Rafael Salguero had been under house arrest since 2016 while providing information to prosecutors in a sprawling case accusing several soccer officials of accepting more than $200 million dollars in bribes.

Salguero, who had pleaded guilty to corruption charges in a sealed proceeding, told a federal judge in Brooklyn on Thursday that he was “deeply regretful” about his involvement.

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