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The Boston Red Sox Friday, June 15, 2018 * The Boston Globe David Price has been true to his word, and then some Peter Abraham SEATTLE — When David Price was medically cleared to rejoin the Red Sox rotation in mid-May after a two-day shutdown for wrist pain, he vowed to make every start the rest of the season. Left unsaid, and completely uncertain at the time, was how good Price would be. He had a 5.11 earned run average and was pitching with poor command and low 90s velocity. In the month since, Price has been one of the best pitchers in the majors. He was dominant again on Thursday night as the Sox beat the Seattle Mariners, 2-1. The Red Sox have won the first four games on their 10-game road trip and nine of 12 overall. At 48-22, they are 26 games over .500 for the first time this season. Seattle came into the series having won four straight and 11 of 13 to climb into first place in the American League West. But Price, Joe Kelly, and Craig Kimbrel held the Mariners to six hits before an enthusiastic crowd of 30,475 at Safeco Field. Kimbrel had to earn his 22nd save. He walked leadoff hitter Mitch Haniger and then threw a wild pitch before walking Nelson Cruz. Kimbrel then struck out an overmatched Kyle Seager before Ryon Healy bounced into a double play smartly turned by second baseman Eduardo Nunez. Price continued what has been an impressive run by allowing one run on five hit, all singles, over seven innings. He struck out seven without a walk and hit 95 miles-per-hour with his fastball several times. “Outstanding,” manager Alex Cora said. “A few breaking balls, changeups, fastballs up in the zone, in and out. He won some battles.” Price has a 2.64 earned run average and 1.04 WHIP in his last seven starts with opponents hitting .205. His ERA for the season is down to 3.76. “Lights out,” said Xander Bogaerts, whose solo home run off Felix Hernandez in the sixth inning was the difference in the game. Hernandez was sharp, too. He gave up two runs on eight hits over seven innings with one walk and six strikeouts. In his three previous starts against the Sox, Hernandez allowed 18 runs on 23 hits — six of them home runs — over 14 innings. He was back in King Felix mode for this game, but Price was better. “That was good,” Price said. “We’ve won a couple of games in a row. They had won a couple of games in a row and a couple of them had been walk-off wins. For us to be able to do that and Craig finishing that game that way he did … that was good.” Since Price learned his wrist discomfort was only a treatable case of carpal tunnel syndrome, the Sox have won all of his starts. “He prepares for his outing as best he can; he makes adjustments. He’s doing an outstanding job for us,” Cora said. Price said his increased velocity is a product of good health. “Just feeling better,” he said. “Everything is starting to feel better and better day in and day out,” he said. “Stick with what we’ve been doing and hopefully it continues in that direction.” In a 1-1 game, Bogaerts homered to center field with two outs in the sixth. Bogaerts, who struck out swinging in his first two at-bats, drilled a two-strike fastball that Hernandez left over the plate. To that point, Bogaerts had swung at nine of Hernandez’s pitches and missed six times, fouling off the others. “My first [two] at-bats were horrendous,” Bogaerts said. Cora certainly did not expect a home run. “I was watching, and it seemed like he had no chance, honestly,” the manager said. “He was swinging and missing. I think it was tough for him to see the ball.” Before the at-bat, J.D. Martinez told Bogaerts to look for a pitch up and lay off everything down in the strike zone. “He left one where I could hit it, and I hit it pretty good,” Bogaerts said. It was Bogaerts’ 10th home run in 209 at-bats this season. He had 10 in 572 at-bats in 2017. Bogaerts made a creative defensive play to help Price in the bottom of the inning. After Price hit Dee Gordon with a pitch, Jean Segura drove a two-seam fastball sharply up the middle on the ground. Bogaerts made a sliding stop of the ball, reached back to slap the bag with his glove and from his knees threw to first to complete an impressive double play. Credit Nunez, too. He switched defensive coverage before the pitch to have Bogaerts cover the second base. Price also executed, changing his delivery to keep Gordon from getting a good jump. “Oh man, that was huge,” Price said. Said Bogaerts: “As soon as I caught it, I saw the bag right there, and I knew I had a good chance of turning two.” The Sox took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Rafael Devers extended his hit streak to nine games with a double to the gap in right field. With two outs, Jackie Bradley Jr. lined a double down the line in right to score Devers. Bradley came into the game with one hit in his previous 23 at-bats. But Cora gave no thought to taking his center fielder out of the lineup, pointing out that Bradley had been making hard contract without any reward. Seager and Healy started the fifth inning with singles off Price. When Guillermo Heredia squared to bunt, Seager took off for third. Catcher Christian Vazquez threw to second, and Seager continued on to third. Heredia then swung away and sent a sacrifice fly to left field. That play was mishandled, too. Bradley, who has a much stronger arm, was lined up to catch the ball, and Andrew Benintendi called him off. His throw bounced into the infield, and Seager scored without a slide. Price struck out Denard Span and Mike Zunino to end the inning. Xander Bogaerts turned a pretty impressive double play Thursday Matt Pepin Shortstop Xander Bogaerts turned in one of the more spectacular defensive plays of this Red Sox season Thursday in Boston’s 2-1 victory over Seattle. In the bottom of the sixth inning, just after he’d given the Red Sox a 2-1 lead on a solo home run, Bogaerts slid to stop a grounder hit by Jean Segura up the middle. Bogaerts then reached back and tagged second base with his glove to force out Dee Gordon, then threw from his knees to first to get Segura. “As soon as I caught it, I saw the bag right there, and I knew I had a good chance of turning two,” Bogaerts said. The impressive double was set up when second baseman Eduardo Nunez switched defensive coverage and had Bogaerts cover second base with Gordon running on the pitch. Pitcher David Price also changed his delivery to keep Gordon from getting a good jump. “Oh man, that was huge,” Price said. Red Sox play-by-play announcer Dave O’Brien was impressed. “That’s one of the best plays we’ve seen him make,” O’Brien said during the game broadcast. Here’s why the Red Sox think Jackie Bradley Jr. is worth the wait Nick Cafardo SEATTLE — So many people want me to denounce Jackie Bradley Jr. and say it’s time to cut ties, trade him, and all that jazz. Anyone ever heard of defense? Would you have said the same about Paul Blair — get rid of him because he couldn’t hit enough (career .250 batting average, with a lot of up-and-down offensive seasons), though his pitchers loved him and they’d revolt if he was let go? Well, that’s the way Bradley’s teammates feel about him. Does everyone want him to hit? Of course. Is there a limit to how long the Red Sox will stay patient with him? Probably. To keep a player who’s struggling offensively like Bradley is, the team needs to have the rest of its lineup hitting. The bottom third of the Red Sox’ lineup is a little rough, with Christian Vazquez not having much more success than Bradley. Lately, manager Alex Cora and others have noted an uptick in contact by Bradley. The center fielder entered Thursday’s series opener in an 0-for-17 rut, but Cora accentuated the positive (Bradley went 1 for 3 with an RBI in the Sox’ 2-1 win Thursday) when he pointed out that Bradley has been hitting into bad luck. This is what managers and hitting coaches do when they try to prop up a struggling player. But if Cora hated what he saw, he would likely go with Andrew Benintendi in center and J.D. Martinez in left. He does that occasionally. He’s trying everything to get Bradley going because he’s a player worth saving. Bradley was a career .294 hitter in the minors. Two years ago, he was an All-Star who hit .267 with 26 home runs and 87 RBIs. So it’s hard to figure out what happened to him. Cora thinks numbers don’t always tell the true story, but Bradley’s have been telling. He started Monday hitting .181 with three homers and 14 RBIs.

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