There was deserved skepticism heading into David Price’s outing Tuesday night.
Price on Saturday, in just his second start since returning from the injured list with tendinitis in his pitching elbow, was lifted after three batters due to flu-like symptoms. Price had looked like he was really laboring in the outing, and his stuff looked bad as a result.
But both Price and Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora said there wasn’t an issue with the arm, and shortly thereafter it was announced he’d start in Tuesday’s game against the Cleveland Indians.
Safe to say Price was feeling just fine, as he tossed six scoreless innings in a 7-5 loss to The Tribe, allowing just three hits with one walk and six strikeouts. Price didn’t issue the walk until the sixth inning, and he didn’t allow a single runner to advance past first base. Furthermore, his stuff looked pretty good at times, with his four-seam fastball hitting 94 on multiple occasions.
For a while now, Price has looked pretty sharp. His ERA on the season dropped down to 2.83, and it’s thanks in part to the 1.77 ERA he’s posted over his last seven outings.
Thanks to Price’s performance, Chris Sale rounding into form, Nathan Eovaldi getting healthier, Rick Porcello once again becoming reliable and Eduardo Rodriguez being mostly effective, things are looking up for a Red Sox rotation that started off pretty slow.
This is exactly what the rotation was expected to be, and one has to think they’re only going to be building upon this going forward.
Here are some other notes from Tuesday’s Indians-Red Sox game:
— Rafael Devers has been clubbing the ball this season, and he even had a career first Tuesday: He hit a triple.
That’s right, to this point in his career Devers had yet to hit a three-bagger, but he smacked a ball in the sixth inning into the right field corner and started trucking, and he reached third well before the throw. The young third baseman now is hitting .329 after the 2-for-5 night.
Devers’ big hit also sparked what proved to be a nice inning for the Red Sox, who broke the scoreless tie by plating three runs in the inning.
— Brock Holt, playing for the second straight game following his return from the injured list Monday, had another big game. The utilityman drove in two runs in the sixth, although it was due to a throwing error from Indians second baseman Mike Freeman, so he wasn’t credited with the RBIs.
Nevertheless, Holt went 1-for-3 in the loss while batting sixth and playing left field, giving Andrew Benintendi the night off.
— Ryan Brasier and Travis Lakins have quite a bit of blood on their hands for the loss.
Tasked with preserving a three-run lead in the ninth, Brasier allowed a solo shot and a two-run homer, which tied the game. The two-run dinger was courtesy of Greg Allen, who entered the game hitting .087. Lakins then took over and had zero command, loading the bases before giving up a two-run double to Jordan Luplow, which put Cleveland ahead by the deciding margin.
