Frustrating Season Continues For David Price
BOSTON (CBS) -- After David Price cruised through three scoreless innings, it looked like the Red Sox would be closing their 11-game road trip on a high note.
Price was showing signs of being the ace the Red Sox sorely need in their rotation, allowing just one hit over the first three frames against the Dodgers. But like he's done so many times in his inaugural season in Boston, Price quickly lost his touch and his control. And once again, the opposition pounced.
The Dodgers tagged Price for three runs in the fourth, turning Boston's 2-0 lead into a 3-2 deficit. It started with a solo homer off the bat of Justin Turner, the 18th round-tripper he's allowed this season, on an 0-1 curve that Price left hanging. Three of the next four batters reached base as Price struggled with his command, and the Dodgers took the lead on a two-run double off the bat of Rob Segedin, the first RBIs of the 27-year-old rookie's major league career.
Los Angeles hit Price for three more runs in the fifth, courtesy of a pair of walks, two singles and an untimely error by Xander Bogaerts. Two of the runs came with two outs, again off the bat of Segedin, on a 2-0 fastball right down the pike.
Price finished the fifth without any further damage, thanks to a runner being gunned down at third on Segedin's second two-run double, but his final line on Sunday was anything but ace-like: six runs allowed (only three earned) on six hits and five walks over five innings.
As he has a number of times this season, Price said he simply didn't have it on the mound.
"That's the worst that I've commanded the baseball in a game in a long time. I made some really good pitches and then didn't make some good ones," Price told reporters after the loss, which dropped him to 9-8 on the season.
The frustration continues for Price and the Red Sox, who have lost the lefty's last five starts and seven of his last eight. Price has won just once since the All-Star break, and Boston is just 2-6 in 12 of his starts since June 8.
"I always expect to win; absolutely, that's part of it," he said. "The first 10 starts of the year I was terrible and won a lot of baseball games. Then I started throwing the ball a lot better and just good things weren't happening.
"That's part of it. I'm going to continue to work and continue to put everything I have into this game and I expect to get good results," he said.
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The Red Sox lost all three of Price's outings on the road trip, missing out on an opportunity to improve their standings in the playoff picture. The man they are paying over $30 million to perform like an ace is doing anything but, unable to make pitches when he needs to the most and failing to put his team in the win column. Boston is just 11-13 in his 24 starts this season.
Price has continually said that he's going to get better throughout the season, but it's now early August and he's running out of time to prove he can still be the pitcher the Red Sox brass had hoped would take the mound every five days.
Zo & Beetle react to Price's latest disappointment:
