Price shines again as Red Sox take 2-0 lead over L.A.

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 major league RBI leader 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 World Series team has ever recovered from.

The Red Sox have won 14 of their last 16 World Series games, dating to a four-game 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 post-season 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.

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.

Craig Kimbrel closing the Dodgers down in a perfect ninth for his sixth save this post-season.