David Price finally gets run support against Pirates
By Mike Marteny
Tampa Bay Rays lefty David Price is a good pitcher. Really good in fact. You just can’t tell by his win/loss record. He is just 5-7 on the season.
It is not all his fault. The thing with W/L records is that they don’t tell much of the story. Just ask Steve Carlton when the Phillies were bad in the early to mid 1970’s.
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The ineptitude of the Rays offense has a lot to to with this. They have given Price two runs or less in each of his last ten starts. That means if Price pitched the standard definition for a quality start (six innings pitched, three earned runs allowed), that he would have lost every game during that stretch.
Price has five straight quality starts. He is 1-3 over that stretch.
Don’t get me wrong, Price has had his share of struggles this year. He has given up five runs or more in four starts, which is not common for him.
His troubles seem to be gone in June. He is the dominant pitcher that we have come to expect. He has a 2.59 ERA with 43 strikeouts in 31.1 innings pitched.
Today he is going for his fifth consecutive game of double-digit strikeouts.
He teammates are actually helping him out this afternoon. They scored three runs in the first inning, which means they gave him more run support in one inning than he had in the previous ten games.
They did so at the expense of Pirates starter Charlie Morton.
Desmond Jennings led off the game with a single, and was promptly tripled in by Ben Zobrist. Zobrist scored on an error two batters later to make it 2-0. Rookie Kevin Kiermaier added a sac fly with the bases loaded.
The Rays left the bases loaded in the first after Logan Forsythe grounded out.
Price has held the Pirates at bay through three, giving up just one hit and one walk while striking out five.