Mental bl-October
Another Price playoff fail
Standing on the mound, David Price turned around, noticed Alex Cora approaching and handed him the ball.
Head down, Price walked off the mound, stepped over the foul line and back into the dugout as the Fenway Park fans mercilessly booed him.
This wasn’t the postseason start he or the Red Sox have long hoped for. Not even close.
Price’s postseason nightmares continued last night, and they were worse than anyone could have imagined. After two years of waiting since his last playoff start, the lefthander didn’t even make it out of the second inning. He gave up three runs — two on solo home runs — before Cora pulled the plug with the Red Sox in a 3-0 hole against the Yankees in Game 2 of the American League Division Series.
Regardless of the eventual outcome, this was not the time Price exorcised his playoff demons with a long-awaited win as a starter.
The $217 million pitcher entered last night with a postseason win-loss record of 0-9 in his career as a starter, and he exited on his way to a 10th defeat.
On Friday, Price said he needed to focus on it being no different than any other start, but he didn’t have an explanation when asked if that’s something he’s struggled with in Octobers past.
“No, I just don’t have an answer for you guys,” Price said. “I’ve been asked that quite a while now. I can’t really put my finger on it. That was my generic answer.”
Price didn’t have any answers last night, either, and it also looked like one of his generic postseason starts.
Price put together a solid regular season and a strong second half, but he had trouble against the Yankees and their power-hitting lineup. In four starts against the Yankees this season, he had a 10.34 ERA, and nine of the 26 homers he allowed came against the Bronx Bombers.
That trend continued into the playoffs — and quickly.
The second batter of the game, Aaron Judge, took Price’s 1-2 cutter and pulverized it to left-center over the Green Monster. The homer was estimated at 445 feet.
That was Price’s lone mistake of the first inning, even though Giancarlo Stanton’s inning-ending fly out to center was crushed at 390 feet.
It all came unraveled in the second. Gary Sanchez led off with a shot over the Monster that was his sixth homer in 14 career at-bats against Price.
Price buckled down to retire Didi Gregorius and Miguel Andujar on groundouts, but then walked Gleyber Torres and Brett Gardner — the latter of which he was inches away from striking out on a 2-2 changeup. Andrew McCutchen roped a single off the wall to score Torres, and that was all for Price.