Price breaks through with Yankee Stadium win

NEW YORK -- David Price exorcised one set of demons last October when he finally proved he could come through in the postseason. He made another annoying storyline go away on Sunday night when he came up big at Yankee Stadium.

And Price’s timing could not have been better while leading his team to an 8-5 victory.

The Red Sox had been sputtering the last two weeks and lost the first two games this weekend to their rivals. Not only that, but they were fading an uncomfortable distance back in the American League East. This win snapped a four-game losing streak and closed the deficit in the division to 8 1/2 games.

“We needed today,” said Price. “We needed to come out and beat those guys the way that we did. That was big for us.”

Price retired the first 10 batters he faced, then minimized the damage in the one stressful inning he had. It all amounted to his first road victory against the Yankees since joining Boston in 2016.

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“It feels good,” said Price. “To pitch well in a place I haven’t pitched well in a while, against a team that’s given me problems, it feels good.”

The veteran lefty’s previous six encounters in New York added up to an 0-6 record and a 9.79 ERA.

This time, Price (3-2, 2.83 ERA) carved up the Yankees with a nice mix of fastballs, cutters and changeups -- many of which painted the corners. Of Price’s 99 pitches, 19 of them generated swings and misses.

“He seemed sharp to me,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone. “Mixed his four-seamer, able to backdoor the cutter, he's able to work both sides of the plate. His calling card is his command, and I thought he was -- a little tough from the side to always tell -- but it looked like command-wise, he was able to go back and forth, mix in the changeup to get you off the velocity a little bit.”

Backing Price’s performance was a strong performance by the offense. Hours after manager Alex Cora stated that his hitters needed to be more consistent, they put together a balanced attack against CC Sabathia and the Yankees bullpen. J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogaerts both went deep. Andrew Benintendi, Michael Chavis and Eduardo Nunez contributed with two hits apiece.

But the story was Price.

“He was great,” said Cora. “Good command, good mix of pitches. Gave us a chance. I’m happy for him that he came here and pitched the way he did. He’s been outstanding the whole season. It didn’t surprise me.”

Much like Cora could sense Price was going to come through in last year’s AL Championship Series and World Series, he had a similar feeling entering Sunday.

“He set the tone during the week. I knew it,” said Cora. “We talked about it. He was prepared. He was throwing the ball well. I think he went to some places today that he didn’t last year and made some adjustments. Like I said, he found some things in October that have carried on throughout the season and he’s in a good place right now.”

Without question, Price has been Boston’s most consistent starting pitcher this season. After giving up four runs in each of his first two starts, Price has held the opponent to three earned runs or fewer in his last eight starts.

He’s been particularly dominant since returning from the injured list on May 20, allowing two earned runs in 18 innings.

Then again, Price’s string of consistent excellence really dates back to the second half of last season. In his last 27 starts (including postseason) dating back to July 12, Price is 13-4 with a 2.75 ERA. Opponents are hitting .208 against him in that span.

The improvement of his changeup and backdoor cutter have been key during his resurgence. Price’s pitching patterns have gotten much harder to guess.

“I don’t care how I’m getting guys out,” Price said. “I just want to get them out. It’s going to change game to game. I did stuff differently today than I have in my past four or five starts. We’ll continue to switch it up.”

As for the 30-29 Red Sox, they need to start surging, and they know it. They’ll next see the Yankees on June 29 when the rivalry moves to London for two games.

“We’re better than what our record is right now. We all understand that,” said Price. “We look to continue to play good baseball.”

And if they need inspiration on how to improve, Cora suggests looking at how the Yankees are playing.

“We have to keep getting better. They’re good. They don’t stop playing. They keep going, they keep grinding and we just need to get better,” said Cora. “For us to get back into this thing, we need to clean a few things up. Consistency in everything. You’ve got to do that. They’re doing that. You can see it. The at-bats, the way they approach the game, everything they do. It’s not cool to see, but it’s impressive.”