LOS ANGELES (AP) Behind the red-hot bat of Eddie Rosario, the Atlanta Braves are one win away from their first World Series appearance since 1999.

All they need to do is put away the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

Easier said than done.

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BOSTON (AP) Framber Valdez lost his perfect game in the fifth inning and then bounced the next pitch off the batter's leg.

Astros manager Dusty Baker headed for the mound.

LOS ANGELES (AP) The Los Angeles Dodgers were asking the world of Julio Urias when he took the mound for the fourth time in 12 days.

Although Urias was the only 20-game winner in baseball this season, Los Angeles had used him in three roles in the past week alone. Urias and the Dodgers all claimed it was nothing he couldn't handle, but the left-hander was out of rhythm and away from his normal between-starts preparation when he took on the Atlanta Braves in Game 4 of the NL Championship Series.

BOSTON (AP) Following two weak performances at the plate, the Boston Red Sox now turn to Nathan Eovaldi to try to save their season on just two days' rest.

The Red Sox were held hitless for four innings Wednesday by left-hander Framber Valdez and managed only three hits in a 9-1 loss to the Houston Astros that left Boston down 3-2 in the best-of-seven AL Championship Series.

NEW YORK (AP) Mets right-hander Carlos Carrasco has had surgery to remove a bone fragment from his pitching elbow and is projected to resume baseball activities this winter.

Mets medical director Dr. David Altchek operated Tuesday at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.

NEW YORK (AP) The price of a qualifying offer to Major League Baseball free agents dropped by $500,000 to $18.4 million, a sign of the slide in salaries.

The figure is determined by the average of the top 125 major league contracts this year and marks only the second fall. The price fell by $100,000 to $17.8 million in 2019, then rose to $18.9 million in 2020.

MILWAUKEE (AP) Milwaukee Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns says nobody has been able to figure out the cause of Christian Yelich's hitting struggles over the past couple of seasons.

"I think if we did, if Christian knew exactly what happened, it's easier to solve," Stearns said Friday during a news conference wrapping up the Brewers' season. "It's certainly frustrating for Christian."

NEW YORK (AP) Aaron Boone will be back with the New York Yankees next year, their first manager since Miller Huggins in 1922 to return for a fifth season after failing to win a title during his first four.

"A manager is only as good as the players he's got," general manager Brian Cashman said Tuesday after announcing a three-year contract for Boone that contains a club option for 2025.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) The San Francisco Giants plan to exercise Buster Posey's $22 million club option for the 2022 season as long as the veteran catcher wants to keep playing after a stellar year.

Posey, whose contract includes a $3 million buyout, helped lead the Giants to a franchise-record 107 wins and their first NL West title since 2012 by playing regularly down the stretch this year as he demonstrated his health and durability during his 12th major league season. The 34-year-old Posey opted out of the coronavirus-shortened 2020 campaign to care for prematurely born adopted twin girls.