Boston, Price put Dodgers in 2-0 hole
BOSTON — From playoff flop to October ace in two legacy-shifting starts, David Price earned his second postseason victory in a row and moved the Red Sox halfway to yet another World Series title.
The left-hander pitched six innings of three-hit ball, and major-league RBI leader J.D. Martinez broke a fifth-inning tie during another two-out rally to beat the Dodgers 4-2 on Wednesday night.
Game 3 is Friday in Los Angeles. The Dodgers need a win to avoid an 0-3 deficit from which no World Series team has recovered.
“This is the biggest stage in baseball,” Price said after his longest postseason outing since signing a seven-year, $217 million contract to come to Boston in 2016. “To be able to do that, it feels good, for sure. I’m pumped for myself, pumped for all my teammates and coaches for us to be two wins away.”
Mookie Betts had three hits for the Red Sox, who have won 14 of their past 16 World Series games dating to a four-game sweep of St. Louis in 2004. Not bad for a team that went 85 years without a championship before then.
Price had dealt with his personal postseason struggles. The onetime Dodgers draft pick has pitched brilliantly in the regular season but was 0-9 in his first 10 postseason starts before this October. Whether with Tampa Bay, Toronto, Detroit or Boston, his team had not won a playoff game he started before this year.
The Red Sox have won his past three postseason starts, including the ALCS Game 5 clincher against the defending World Series champion Astros in which he pitched six shutout innings.
“I get it, the numbers and all that. But this guy is a great pitcher,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “He’s been one of the best pitchers in the big leagues for a while, and he cares.”
On a frigid night at Fenway Park, Price held the highestscoring team in the NL hitless through three innings and retired the last seven batters he faced. He struggled only in the fourth, loading the bases with nobody out on two singles and a walk as the Dodgers took a 2-1 lead — their first of the Series.
“I’m so happy for him and proud of him,” Martinez said. “Going through all that criticism that he’s been getting here, to bounce back to what he’s been doing.”
The Boston batters did what they’ve been doing: scoring with two outs. In a stretch of clutch hitting that has been their hallmark throughout their 108-win season, the Red Sox scored all their runs in Game 2 with two outs, including a three-run rally in the fifth.
Christian Vazquez singled, Betts did the same and Andrew Benintendi worked the count full before walking to load the bases, chasing Hyun-Jin Ryu. Ryan Madson walked Steve Pearce to tie the game before Martinez, who had 130 RBIs in the regular season, dropped a soft line drive in front of right fielder Yasiel Puig for a two-run single that gave Boston a 4-2 lead.
Price and three relievers retired the last 16 Los Angeles batters, with Craig Kimbrel closing out the ninth for his sixth save this postseason. Not since Don Larsen’s 1956 perfect game for the Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers has an AL team retired as many consecutive hitters to finish a World Series game, according to STATS.
“We had him. We had him on the ropes,” L.A. manager Dave Roberts said. “The difference is they got the big hit when they needed, and we didn’t.”