Price shines again as Red Sox take 2-0 lead

Boston pitcher putting playoff demons in past

BOSTON — From playoff flop to World Series ace in one legacy-changing October, David Price earned his second post-season victory in a row Wednesday night and delivered the Boston Red Sox their second straight World Series win.

The Red Sox left-hander pitched six innings of three-hit ball, and J.D. Martinez broke a fifth-inning tie with a two-run single during another two-out rally to lead Boston to a 4-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers and a 2-0 lead in the World Series.

Game 3 is Friday in Los Angeles. The Dodgers need a win to avoid an 0-3 deficit that no team has ever recovered from in World Series history.

The Red Sox have won 14 of their last 16 World Series games, dating to a fourgame sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004.

Not bad for a team that went 86 years without a championship before then.

And Price had battled a curse of his own. He had been 0-9 in his first 10 postseason starts and his team had never won a playoff game he started before this year. Boston has now won his last three starts, including the ALCS Game 5 clincher against the defending champion Astros in which he pitched six shutout innings.

So what changed for Price, who said he found something while warming up in the bullpen late in Game 4 at Houston?

“I take a lot of pride in being able to evolve from pitch to pitch or day to day or game to game,” Price said.

“Being able to make adjustments on the fly, it’s paid off.”

On a frigid night at Fenway Park, Price held the highest-scoring team in the NL hitless through three innings and retired the last seven batters he faced.

Price struggled only in the fourth, loading the bases with nobody out on two singles and a walk, to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead — their first of the Series.

Price and three relievers retired the last 16 L.A. batters, with Craig Kimbrel closing the Dodgers down in a perfect ninth for his sixth save this post-season.