David Price On Pitching Well For Red Sox: 'It's About Time'
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- For any pitcher, throwing eight scoreless innings on any day against any team would be reason enough to feel good. But for David Price, spinning a gem to continue a dominant stretch of baseball, and against a team his Red Sox are likely to see in the postseason to boot? The positive vibes must have been flowing a little bit stronger after that one.
Yet, according to Price, whether it's the AL Central-leading Indians or the 52-games-out-of-first-place Orioles, all victories are created equal.
"Nope, they all feel as good. It doesn't matter who you're pitching against," a victorious Price said Thursday at Fenway Park after Boston's 7-0 win in the series finale. "If you're pitching against the Orioles or these guys. Anybody in this division especially can put up runs in bunches, so to go out there and throw the ball well, it feels good no matter who you're going against."
Price may not share an increased importance in such starts, but there should be little doubt that to the Red Sox, Thursday's performance meant a little more. For as dominant as he has been since the All-Star break (and he has been dominant), all but one of his previous seven starts prior to Thursday came against a team in the bottom half of the league in terms of offense. Five of the seven were in the bottom third, and three opponents were in the bottom four of the league rankings in offense.
For Price, shutting those teams down is not a bad thing. Far from it. But his performances against teams better than .500 this season remained a bit spotty (4-4, 3.89 ERA), at least compared to his record against sub-.500 teams (9-2, 3.49 ERA).
So to go out and shut down the Indians, who rank third in MLB in runs scored, was no doubt a promising step forward for Boston's $30 million man.
And though Price didn't much acknowledge that element, he did admit that he believes his current stretch is the best he's ever pitched as a member of the Red Sox.
"By far. Absolutely," he said. "To not have that really bad game mixed in at some point, that's good. This is the pitcher Boston signed, so for me to get back to that, it's about time."
That much is hard to argue. Since his clunker in New York on Sunday Night Baseball on July 1, Price has gone 5-0 with a 2.05 ERA, a 0.930 WHIP, 57 strikeouts and just eight walks. Even including that dud against the Yankees, Price's numbers since mid-May through the current date are strong: a 12-2 record with a 2.96 ERA, a 1.060 WHIP and 117 strikeouts in 112.1 innings pitched. The Red Sox are 16-2 in games started by Price since May 12.
On Thursday, Price kept the Indians' bats quiet in a game that was scoreless heading into the bottom of the fifth. At that point, Boston plated six runs, giving Price more than enough cushion for the win. He finished the day having allowed no runs, zero walks and just three hits. He struck out seven batters and efficiently made it through eight innings in 101 pitches.
Price threw five 1-2-3 innings, including the top of the sixth after getting the lead.
"He was outstanding," an impressed Alex Cora said. "Probably his best start of the season."
Of course, as with anything regarding Price, "none of it will matter until the postseason." That much is true, to an extent. If this stretch continues through September, only for a repeat of his 2016 postseason start vs. Cleveland to come in October, then the season won't be remembered fondly by anybody. Of course. But that doesn't diminish the turnaround Price has put forth this season, a year which started a bit dreadfully in his first seven starts (2-5, 5.11 ERA, 1.405 WHIP).
The simplified bottom line is that in the 25 times David Price has taken the mound this season, the Red Sox have won more than 75 percent of the time. The same can't be said for Chris Sale or Rick Porcello. That's not by any means a complete indicator of a pitcher's effectiveness, but it's presented for this simple reason: In a season where the Red Sox remain on pace to win a record number of games, David Price is a key contributor to that effort. Go back to last year at this time, or even the year before it, and few would have thought that to be possible.