The Boston Red Sox Saturday, July 20, 2019 * The Boston Globe Eck-related or not, David Price flopped in Baltimore Peter Abraham David Price woke up on Wednesday morning, read some comments Dennis Eckersley made about him in a Globe feature story, and decided to further stir the embers of his two-year-old feud with the team broadcaster and Hall of Famer. Price posted a few jabs on Twitter, then called reporters to his locker at Fenway Park later in the day to bang the drum again. He made sure everybody knew how he felt. Who started this latest chapter of their dispute didn’t matter when Price took the mound against the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night. His job was to put that aside, beat the worst team in baseball, and keep the Red Sox dogpaddling in the playoff pool. Price instead allowed six runs over four innings in what was an embarrassing 11-2 loss for the Red Sox. Price’s start was a fastball over the plate for his critics. He put himself out there with his comments and didn’t deliver two days later when he pitched. “Anything off the field, it doesn’t affect how I prepare, affect the way that I pitch,” Price said. “That doesn’t affect me at all. I’m sure it’ll be used back in Boston. But it doesn’t affect me.” Price overcame actual pressure last October when he helped pitch the Red Sox to a championship and ended a string of poor postseason performances. So the idea that the Eckersley issue was somehow a distraction is far-fetched. “If you think I’m thinking about that out there on the mound tonight, you’re 100 percent wrong,” Price said. “That’s not the case. It didn’t affect me.” But professional athletes essentially strike a bargain when they choose to wade into controversy. They can get away with it as long as they perform. Bill Lee specialized in outlandish statements, but usually found a way to beat the Yankees. Manny Ramirez was high maintenance, but always drove in runs. How many squalls did David Ortiz end by belting a home run? If you speak up, you have to back it up. Megan Rapinoe could teach a class on that after the World Cup. But Price left himself open for second-guessing. Add it to the list of annoyances manager Alex Cora had had to deal with. “These guys, they work and they give their all to the organization. What [Price] did last year, that was amazing to the city and us,” Cora said. “I don’t want to say it was unfair. The timing was like, ‘Why now?’ It was out of nowhere. “David is very honest and he speaks his mind. But at the same time, why do we have to talk about this while we’re in the middle of the season?” The Sox are 11 games behind the Yankees, matching the their largest deficit of the season. A fourth consecutive division title isn’t happening, and even a wild-card berth is unlikely to produce much more than a quick exit from the playoffs given this team’s inconsistency. The bottom three hitters of Baltimore’s lineup were 4 for 6 with two-extra base hits, three runs scored and two RBIs against Price. One of the runs came when J.D. Martinez so badly misplayed a ball in right field, Richie Martin raced around the bases. It was scored a triple and an error. That run wasn’t Price’s fault, but the rest were. Price gave up a three-run homer to Anthony Santander in the first inning. It was Santander’s second career home run against a lefthander in 83 at-bats. “When you give up runs with two outs, that’s always tough,” Price said. “It’s been my Achilles heel for a long time. It’s something I struggled with early on this year and it was a problem [Friday].” With the Sox down 4-2, Price allowed a two-run homer to Keon Broxton, who at the time was a .174 hitter. The loss was Price’s first in 13 career starts at Camden Yards. Price allowed 10 runs over nine innings in his last two starts. As the Sox get Nate Eovaldi back to bolster their bullpen, they now have to get Price fixed. It has to happen soon. Once they finish this three-game series with the Orioles, the Sox play 14 in a row against the Yankees and Rays. Forget about pitchers arguing with announcers. The Sox have much bigger issues than old feuds. Red Sox hit bottom, get routed by lowly Orioles Julian McWilliams Red Sox general manager Dave Dombrowski had a front-row seat. For all nine innings, he sat in the press box at Camden Yards and watched his team play the Orioles. It wasn’t a sight to see. The Red Sox lost, 11-2, and the game appeared out of reach by the end of the fourth inning. “I think this is definitely one of the worst [losses],” Xander Bogaerts said. “Especially if you’re talking about from a team standpoint, [the Orioles] are not one of the leading teams in any category or one of the top teams. They’re last in the division. They came out playing good baseball today.” Manager Alex Cora talked about being prudent with giving players days off because of the heat. He gave Betts a rest in right, starting him at DH. Michael Chavis got the start at second and Christian Vazquez played first. But with the Sox playing for their playoff lives now, there might not be much rest left for his regulars. In the bottom of the first, David Price allowed a three-run homer on a fastball he left up in the zone to Anthony Santander, which gave the Orioles a quick 3-0 lead. In the second, Sam Travis hit a two-run shot to cut the deficit to 3-2, but after that it was all Orioles. Richie Martin tripled to right field in the second, but an error by right fielder J.D. Martinez, who was out there in place of Betts, allowed Martin to score. Two innings later, Keon Broxton hit a two-run homer to left on a Price changeup. Price’s night was finished after he struck out Trey Mancini to end the frame. Price finished at 88 pitches, allowing six earned runs. It was only the third time in 18 starts that Price hadn’t pitched at least five innings. “He wasn’t able to finish Santander there with two strikes and he hung a changeup there to Broxton,” Cora said. “Coming into the start we knew we would have to see where he was. He made a lot of pitches [in his last start] against the Dodgers.” The pitch count proved to be the most glaring problem for Price. He’s certainly been the Red Sox’ best starter, but recently said that he hasn’t finished off batters the way in which he’s capable, often having to go through long at-bats. In his loss to the Dodgers last Sunday, for instance, Price threw 113 pitches and had to be taken out after the fifth inning. It was much of the same Friday. “I went five in Detroit [July 7] and it was a grind,” Price said. “I went five [after] that and it was a grind. It’s been tough to get early outs. Whether it’s getting strike one and strike two and letting guys back into the count. Or being 2-0 and having to grind back in that count and finally getting an out. It takes six, seven, or eight pitches. I feel like even 1-2-3 innings are even 20-pitch innings right now.” He threw 21 pitches in just the first inning Friday and was at 59 pitches by the end of the third. The long at- bats show up in the numbers, too. In those four innings, the Orioles fouled off 19 of Price’s pitches. In his start against the Dodgers, 31 were fouled off. Price said it’s a matter of him executing and making better pitches. “That’s what it boils down to,” Price said. “It’s something I’ve struggled with the past three or four starts. It’s something I need to get better at.” The Sox went to their bullpen, calling on Colten Brewer and Ryan Weber, who combined to allow five more runs. But for all the struggles of the pitching, the offense had its problems, too, as did the defense. After Travis’s homer in the second the offense went dormant for practically the entire game. Their next hit didn’t come until the fifth on a Chavis single. The Red Sox were 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position. By the seventh, the Orioles seemingly put the Red Sox away tacking on three runs, one of which came on a costly Chavis error at second. The Sox are now 53-45, three games behind Oakland for the second wild-card spot. The A’s haven’t lost back-to-back games since June 8. Cora unapologetically stated after the Sox were swept by the Yankees in London that his team still had its mind on winning the division. The date was June 30 and his club was 11 games back. Fast forward to Friday, July 19, following a Yankees win against the Colorado Rockies, and that number is still at 11.