David Price had a strong outing Friday night at Comerica Park.
The Red Sox starting pitcher tossed 6 1/3 innings of scoreless ball, giving up four hits and striking out five in Boston’s 1-0 win over the Detroit Tigers on Friday night.
The southpaw;s outing almost was derailed when he got himself into quite the conundrum in the fourth. After retiring the first nine batters he faced, Price loaded the bases with nobody out. But the Tigers were unable to scratch a run across, as Price buckled down and kept the Red Sox’s lead intact.
“I was definitely happy,” Price said of getting out of the inning, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “It was a little bit kind of self-induced, so I wasn’t too happy about that. But that was big to be able to get out of that inning.”
He now is 11-6 on the season, tying Eduardo Rodriguez for the team lead in wins.
So, what had the lefty so dialed in?
“Not getting too happy on one side of the plate,” Price said. “We moved (the ball) around really well tonight.”
Here are some other notes from Friday’s Red Sox-Tigers game:
— Brock Holt left the game in the fourth with what’s being called a right knee contusion. The second baseman suffered the injury after Jeimer Candelario slid into second to avoid being doubled off on a lineout, but his right foot spiked Holt’s knee, prompting the second baseman’s exit.
Cora said after the game that he is day-to-day, and didn’t have any X-rays done on his knee.
— With a walk in the seventh, Mookie Betts successfully reached base in 20 consecutive games.
— With the win, Boston moved 5 1/2 games ahead of the New York Yankees for first place in the American League East, thanks to the Yankees’ loss to the New York Mets on Friday night.
— Steve Pearce was responsible for the lone Red Sox run Friday notching an RBI double in the first.
“We started off on the right foot,” he said after the game. “We got to them early.”
— It was a rare, quiet night at the dish for J.D. Martinez, but he made some noise out in right field, making a spectacular catch to rob JaCoby Jones of extra bases.
“It was huge,” Price said of the play after the game. “When you can get those type of plays, in situations like that it’s big for our pitcher, for our team, for everybody.”
— Cora said after the game that Rafael Devers will be activated from the disabled list Saturday. The third baseman was placed on the 10-day disabled list last week with shoulder inflammation.
