Boston lefty remains winless in playoffs despite team’s victory, writes SOX SURVIVE ANOTHER PRICE DUD
Rob Longley.
At the time, it was almost as if David Price was trying to justify the seven-year, US$217-million deal he signed when he left the Toronto Blue Jays for Boston in December 2015.
Naturally, Price was asked to explain what at that point was “just” an 0-for-7 mark as a postseason starter and how it was all going to change now that he was getting ace money for one of the highest-profile franchises in the sport.
“I was just saving all my postseason wins for the Red Sox,” Price said at the time, reportedly punctuated with a grin.
The grim news? He’s still saving them.
The much better news from a New England perspective is the Red Sox offence picked up a wobbly Price Sunday night at Fenway Park, leading to a crucial 7-5 win over the Houston Astros.
Price was average at best, even though his team desperately could have used a clutch quality outing. It’s a team game, however, and because he never got completely lit up, the Sox were able to square up this best-ofseven ALCS at 1-1. The action now shifts to Texas for three games at Minute Maid Park beginning Tuesday afternoon.
The left-hander didn’t last long enough to claim the elusive win, getting pulled by manager Alex Cora after 42/3 innings. By then he had allowed four runs and five hits and with two runners on and his team leading, Cora clearly didn’t want to take a chance of another post-season Price pummelling.
Price certainly wasn’t good enough to get the win with only one clean inning. The Astros put up deuces in the second and third, the latter highlighted by a two-run Marwin Gonzalez homer.
The Red Sox hung on from there in what was essentially a must-win affair for them. They added an insurance run in the seventh, then in the eighth brought in what would have been Game 3 starter Rick Porcello to protect things.
Desperate times, don’t you know?
Porcello struck out two of the three Astros batters he faced and the offence added another run in the bottom of the eighth to set closer Craig Kimbrel up with a three-run lead. Kimbrel allowed a single and double for one Astros run, but got the job done for his third save of the post-season.
The loss was the first of these playoffs for the Astros, who swept Cleveland in three games in the ALDS and took Game 1 here Saturday night.
Ultimately, the team victory was the most important thing, but by not getting the win, Price unwittingly made some dubious post-season history. With 11 consecutive post-season starts without a victory, the Nashville native matched the longest stretch in MLB history.
With his team alive to see another day, Price will take it, however. And with the series taking a significant shift before the 37,960 Fenway faithful Sunday night, he may get another chance.
PHILLIP/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MOOKIE ON THE MOVE
Before the game, Astros manager A.J. Hinch referred to Red Sox centre-fielder Mookie Betts as “a ticking time bomb (waiting) to do some damage.”
With some sloppy work from the battery to ignite it, the Astros found out just how explosive in the seventh inning, when Betts added an insurance run.
After drawing a leadoff walk, Betts advanced to second on a Lance McCullers Jr. wild pitch. He then moved to third and then home on a pair of passed balls by catcher Martin Maldonado.
So Betts romped around the bases without even needing a teammate’s hit to do so.
“He’s a threat to do a lot of different things,” Hinch said of Betts, whose leadoff double in the first set up the Sox’s first run of the night and another twobagger in the eighth gave the Sox the converted touchdown.
START ’EM UP
As a fringe American League Cy Young candidate, Astros Game 2 starter Gerrit Cole formed a dynamic one-two punch down the stretch alongside Game 1 ace Justin Verlander.
The Red Sox hit him harder than anyone else has in quite a while Sunday, however, a needed offensive outburst to counter Price’s minor woes. The five runs he allowed through the first three innings were certainly out of the ordinary for the right-hander, who had gone 35 consecutive starts without allowing five or more.
Hinch stuck with him through six innings, however, and the right-hander did settle down to retire the final nine batters he faced to keep the game close.
HOMER HAPPY
When Gonzalez destroyed a two-out offering from Price in the third and launched it well over the Green Monster and beyond, the Astros made some history as a team.
It was the 14th consecutive post-season game in which the Astros hit at least one out of the park, an MLB playoff record. The streak dates back to Game 6 of last year’s ALCS, includes all seven games of the World Series and each of the Astros’ five playoff games this October.
SALE NOT SWELL
Perhaps this explains the subpar work of Red Sox ace Chris Sale in Saturday’s Game 1 loss.
The veteran pitcher wasn’t at Fenway Park for Sunday’s contest and midway through the game the team announced Sale had been admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital with a stomach illness.