FORT MYERS, Fla. — Dustin Pedroia had two hits and three RBIs and David Price went five innings as the Boston Red Sox beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-3 on Friday night.
It wasn’t Price’s sharpest outing, but he felt good throughout.
“That’s the best I’ve felt in a couple weeks,” he said. “I was getting out in front of myself, not finishing my pitch off, being up in the zone. But body-wise felt really good.”
The Red Sox ace gave up two runs, one earned, on four hits and five walks with three strikeouts. He threw 89 pitches, 48 for strikes.
“He was strong, up to 90 pitches tonight, which was the goal,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said. “Not as sharp as a couple of starts here of late, but I thought he threw a high number of backdoor cutters to some right-handers that is I think pretty much a signature pitch for him to get back in some counts. But still, he made some big pitches when he had men in scoring position.”
The Red Sox scored six runs, five earned, off Pirates right-hander Ryan Vogelsong, who went 4 1/3 innings. David Ortiz drove in the game’s first run, with a groundout in the first inning, during which the Red Sox sent six batters to the plate.
Hanley Ramirez had two RBIs for Boston.
Josh Harrison had two hits and scored two runs for the Pirates and Tito Polo, who was added to the lineup when Andrew McCutchen was scratched, had two RBIs.
Thumbnail photo via Evan Habeeb/USA TODAY Sports Images
