Price is right — again
Red Sox hurler retires final seven Dodgers he faces as Boston takes 2-0 series lead
As recently as a week ago, it seemed as though David Price would never win a post-season baseball game, a blemish on an otherwise brilliant career as a starter.
Now it looks like the Red Sox pitcher may never lose again.
Clutch when he needed to be Wednesday on a cold Boston night, Price gave up three hits over six innings in Game 2 of the 114th World Series as the Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2.
One start and six days after eliminating the Astros last week, Price retired the final seven Dodgers hitters he faced as the Red Sox took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
“David was amazing,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “He pitched extremely well again. I get the numbers in the post-season, but this guy has been one of the best pitchers in the big leagues for a while.
“I’m very happy for him. One thing I told him was to move forward, to not worry about the struggles in October.”
The action now shifts to L.A. for the next two and a fifth game, if the Dodgers can manage to win first. And that may be asking a lot. The Red Sox, winners of 108 regular-season games, are now on a formidable six-game playoff winning streak.
Cora and the Sox won’t get too far ahead of themselves, but they understand the significance of getting the big lead in front of their home crowd.
“At least we know now that if it doesn’ t go well in L. A ., we’ re coming back,” Cora said.
Don’t bet on it given the dominance thus far.
Price had plenty in the clutch company as the killer-minded Red Sox continued to deliver with two out, scoring three in the fifth with that count to re-take the lead. Of the 68 runs the Sox have scored this post-season, 36 have come with two out.
“The difference is they got the big hit when they needed it and we didn’t,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We’re not swinging the bats well. That’s obvious.”
The fair weather Dodgers, meanwhile, are clearly bothered by everything about Fenway, most notably the weather.
By the time the seventh-inning stretch rolled around on Wednesday, the wind chill was 2C, foreign territory for the National League champs from California. The forecast for Game 3 in Los Angeles is 28 C, which won’t bother the Red Sox any.
Other than the occasional cool summer night when they face the Giants in San Francisco, the Dodgers are blanketed in warmth, a reality not lost on Roberts.
“It’s an adjustment and that’s part of the home-field advantage and especially being in the bullpen,” Roberts said. “It’s more of a challenge.”
It certainly didn’t appear to be much of a challenge for Price, who has battled the cold at times in his career.
For the second consecutive outing, Price held the opposition to just three hits. It’s been an incredible turnaround for the veteran who after his first 11 post-season starts didn’t yield a win.
The Dodgers only managed three hits all night, each of them singles in the two-run fourth as the final 17 Los Angeles batters were retired.
“I really can’t speak to the win-loss in the post-season for David,” Roberts said prior to the game. “All I know is what he’s done recently, and he’s pitched well and he’s got a lot of confidence. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”
The Dodgers did on Wednesday and they certainly will have the same back in Los Angeles with the very real possibility that the series doesn’t even return to New England. We remind you that the Sox are now 14-2 in the past 16 World Series games they’ve played and twice since 2004 have won the Fall Classic via a sweep.
MAD ABOUT MADSON
The cold was especially an issue for Los Angeles reliever
Ryan Madson, who complained about the it after being ineffective on Tuesday and then coughed up some more in Game 2.
After inheriting two runners for starter Clayton Kershaw in Game 1 and letting them all get around, he inherited a bases-loaded jam from starter
Hyun-Jin Ryu on Wednesday. Madson allowed all three of those to score as well in a Red Sox fifth inning that turned a 2-1 deficit to a 4-2 lead.
“It’s definitely an element, yeah,” Madson said prior to the game. “I’m going to make a couple of adjustments and move around a little more, move your knee joints.”
GAME ON
More evidence of the cold’s effect came in the bottom of the seventh when Red Sox centre-fielder Mookie Betts hit a towering fly ball to left that normally would have been over the Green Monster but instead bounced off the wall for a double … Apparently the cold weather also has a shrinking effect on the strike zone as interpreted by home plate ump Kerwin
Danley. After a two-run Dodgers first, Price paid Danley a visit before heading to the dugout … There was some heat in the stadium however and it came from Red Sox right-hander Nathan
Eovaldi who brought plenty of it in some impressive eighth-inning relief. As the temperatures plunged, Eovaldi had a sizzling fastball that topped out at 102 m.p.h. … Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to move to six-for-six in playoff situations this fall … Price is certainly getting some help from his bullpen with the trio of Kimbrel, Eovaldi and Joe
Kelly retiring all of the 18 combined Dodgers hitters they’ve faced … The Sox are now 9-0 when scoring first after getting on the board in the second on Wednesday after an Andrew Bogaerts double was followed by an RBI single from Ian Kinsler
… Of the 54 times a team has taken a 2-0 lead in the World Series 43 have gone on to win including each of the past 10.
ROAD TRIP
Even with the off day it’s not the most travel friendly World Series. In fact, it’s the longest distance possible, some 4,200 kilometres between Fenway and Dodger Stadium.
With that in mind, both teams have decided to fly Thursday morning.
“I think it’s better for the players to get to their rest tonight, sleep at home and hope on a plane,” Cora said. “It’s tough travelling to go to L.A., but we’re not complaining, we’re in the World Series.”