Winding down
Price changes delivery down the stretch
NEW YORK — David Price’s windup disappeared as the season wound down.
Price’s final game of the regular season should give him more starts than any pitcher in the majors, 35. His most recent two outings were notably different than the rest.
Price scrapped his windup. He went exclusively from the stretch Tuesday night against the Yankees after making an in-game switch to the stretch in his previous start against the Orioles.
Price yesterday said that he feels more comfortable.
“We talked about it, and actually talked about it after the game here,” Sox pitching coach Carl Willis said before the Sox’ 5-1 loss to the Yankees last night. “He feels as if, right now, he feels a little more comfortable out of the stretch, as well as feeling that he can disrupt timing — hitters’ timing.”
As one scout noted, Price varied his times to the plate and his leg action, almost quick-pitching at one point or slowing it down at others. Willis acknowledged those benefits.
Willis and Price are planning to have a conversation about it before Sunday’s outing at Fenway Park against the Blue Jays.
“Does command suffer? I’m not saying it does,” Willis said. “But that’s something we need to look at. Personally, I don’t think so with an elite guy that’s pitched as long as he has.”
The Baltimore outing was strong, as Price weathered an early home run to go seven innings, allowing six hits. The most recent game against the Yankees, however, was poor. Price allowed three homers and six runs in 61⁄3 innings, with missed location biting him as it did earlier in the year.
Entering yesterday, Price was in the major league lead for innings at 225, so it may seem odd to see an established pitcher, already 200-plus innings into a season, switch it up.
“I don’t think it’s that unusual,” Willis said. “Not that type of change. If all of a sudden you were talking about taking your hands over your head where you normally don’t and you’re creating a lot of timing issues, (then perhaps). I think you see more commonly, later in the season guys making small changes to get their delivery a little more compact. So their timing stays better because they’re not as strong as they were earlier in the year. To catch up when they got a little out of sync.”
“Wait and see,” Price said when asked what the future holds.
Porcello stays ready
Rick Porcello, the likely starter to open the playoffs, didn’t seem too moved about that designation if the team announces it.
“I mean, it would mean I’m pitching Game 1 of the playoffs,” Porcello said. “I want to go out there and get us a win. That’s what it would mean to me. I think, you know, you get into the playoffs it’s not like the opening day of the start of the season or anything like that. You got to be able to set your rotation up, and it might not always be the order that you would want to send guys out there.”
If Porcello wants to keep wearing his beat up, sweatstained, but perhaps lucky cap the rest of the way, there’s no reason patches that are added to postseason caps should stop him.
Porcello shouldn’t even have to change hats for tonight’s start — when the Sox are wearing a commemorative David Ortiz patch on their hats — if he doesn’t want to.
The Sox clubhouse staffers can add and remove patches from hats, so a new hat entirely isn’t needed. The Sox have done it in the past for other players, and they could do it again.
But Porcello has also pitched without his signature cap, and won.
He pitched on July 4 at Fenway, a day all teams must wear a special cap that has more than just an additional logo on the side.
Although he gave up 12 hits, Porcello held the Texas Rangers to four runs, three earned in six innings as he improved to 10-2.
No prob for Kimbrel
Manager John Farrell said he considered Craig Kimbrel’s bad game Wednesday to be an aberration, but he nonetheless wants Kimbrel to pitch again before the regular season ends, save situation or not. ...
Drew Pomeranz threw a bullpen yesterday, his first since the Sox scratched him from the rotation because of left forearm soreness.
Farrell wants to see Pomeranz pitch out of the ’pen, although Pomeranz feels it may be unnecessary given his prior experience as a reliever. . . .
Yoan Moncada is no longer with the Red Sox, going to Florida for a couple days before joining the Arizona Fall League. His major league debut was rough with 12 strikeouts in 20 plate appearances.