He is 1-for-12 with a walk and five strikeouts in his career at Petco Park, with 12 of those plate appearances coming while starting three games at first base here in 2007. He retired 15 of the final 17 batters he faced and finished with six hits allowed while issuing no walks and striking out eight.
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“The reduction of body parts moving allows him to repeat his delivery more consistently”, said Farrell.
Clemens’ velocity also played a role. Price is 5-0 with a 2.06 ERA in his last five starts for the Red Sox, who pulled into a first-place tie with Toronto atop the American League East with Tuesday’s 5-1 victory.Boston’s starting pitchers improved to 15-8 with a 3.06 ERA since August 1 after Clay Buchholz allowed one run over 6 2/3 innings in Tuesday’s win, but rookie third baseman Yoan Moncada is having a series to forget. But the Red Sox notched five runs in the middle innings for their 16th win in their last 25 games.
ROYALS 11, TWINS 5: In Minneapolis, Brian Dozier hit three home runs for Minnesota, but the Royals used homers by Kendrys Morales and Eric Hosmer to get the road win. It dropped from 94-95 in the first three innings to 90 tops in the fourth.
Jose Dominguez replaced Clemens and retired Leon on a fly to right, although Betts advanced to third when Padres right fielder Oswaldo Arcia delayed on returning the ball to the infield.
– Price loves to hit, but he struck out in all three of his at-bats.
“We kind of talked in between starts and we felt he just wasn’t finishing up front with a ton of conviction”, Padres Manager Andy Green said.
Bogaerts scored on Ramirez’s line drive to left to make it 4-1. He struck out three and walked three in dropping his third straight start. Young extend Boston’s lead to 3-0 when he went back-to-back with Bradley, hitting his eighth homer and second in two games.
“It definitely wasn’t one of my best days”, he said. “They don’t miss mistakes”.
NOTES – The Padres paid tribute to retiring Boston slugger David Ortiz before Wednesday’s game, although the Red Sox designated hitter was limited to pinch-hitting duties during the three games at Petco Park.
“You have to give Clay a tremendous amount of credit for the mental preparation and being ready to go”, said Boston manager John Farrell of Buchholz, who has gone to a no-windup delivery and changed his arm angle in recent weeks.
He is expected to be available on Tuesday for Boston’s second game of a three-game series against the San Diego Padres. Price, who has won four of his last five road starts, struck out eight.
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San Diego leveled the score in the bottom of the third when pitcher Jarred Cosart (0-3, 5.17) led off with a single and Jon Jay followed with another before Luis Sardinas laid down a sacrifice bunt to put Cosart on third.
