It was under different circumstances, but the Red Sox had two left-handed pitchers who felt the good Fenway Park vibes on Thursday in the home opener.
Obviously, in the case of rookie Bobby Poyner, who's making the jump from Double-A to the majors this season, his first Fenway experience as a player was a bit surreal, especially after he pitched two scoreless innings in the 11th and 12th to pick up his first big league victory in the Sox' 3-2, walk-off win against the Rays.
"It was great," Poyner said. "I mean, first game at Fenway and be able to get in? That was incredible."
And then there's David Price. The last time he encountered the Fenway faithful in Game 3 of the Division Series against the Astros, he spurned the ovation they offered after his scoreless one-hit performance in relief that kept the Sox from getting swept. Price entered the game with Boston leading 4-3 and when he exited after four strikeouts, the Sox scored six in the bottom of the seventh to notch a 10-3 victory. The fans tried to show their appreciation for Price with a standing ovation, but he didn't acknowledge it coming off the field or in the locker room after the game.
Thursday was a different story.
Price continued his dominating start to the season by tossing another seven scoreless innings — he did the same in his first start at Tampa — to become the first pitcher since Derek Lowe in 2002 to hold his opponents scoreless in his first two starts of the season. Price has now thrown 29.1 consecutive scoreless innings since returning from the disabled list on Sept. 17 (29 strikeouts), including 26 straight at Fenway.
Price again exited to a warm ovation and, while he didn't acknowledge it on the field, he did following the game.
“It was huge,” Price said of the crowd's reaction.
“I didn’t want to tip my cap because I didn’t want to take myself out of the game. I didn’t know if I was going to go back out for the eighth. If I’d have been sure, I definitely would have tipped my cap, but I didn’t want to show Alex (Cora) that I was done.”
Obviously, someone had a chat with Price in the course of the offseason and told Price to loosen up a little bit and play to the fans' feelings a little bit more. A good guess would be Cora, whose imprint on these Sox in the first seven games is evident. They seem loose. They seem happy. They seem to be having fun at the ballpark again.
Of course, feeling good is easy when your starters spin a 0.86 ERA to start the season. That can even overcome a struggling offense, questionable baserunning, and a mess in the setup situation.
"Seven innings, he did outstanding," Cora said of Price, who exited after 91 pitches. "We're going to take care of these guys. At one point in the game, I think it was the third inning, I looked up and he had 45 (pitches) and I was like, 'Oh, it might be a short one, just like Chris (Sale's) in Miami.' All of a sudden he fell into a groove and gave us seven. Great job. Used his breaking ball, good fastball, he was outstanding.
"I feel like he's been in a good place from the get go ... Fort Myers, Tampa when he pitched, and here today. I don't think he needs to prove people wrong. I think when he's healthy, he's one of the best pitchers in baseball. He's healthy right now."
Like Sale in the season opener, Price had his Fenway opener dampened by shoddy work by the bullpen in the eighth inning when Carson Smith walked the leadoff batter and then surrendered a two-run blast to center by Matt Duffy, who hadn't homered since '16.
"Lead-off walk (to a) speed guy," Cora said of Smith's performance. "And then we rush, throw a fastball up in the zone and Duffy put a good swing on it. We'll go back and talk about, pitch selection — his slider is one of the best in the big leagues. I don't know if he was rushing beause of the runner at first and they decided to go with the fastball, we'll talk about it, but I think the most important thing in that equation is the hitter. Duffy's a good hitter."
After Hector Velazquez and Craig Kimbrel (two walks) pitched scoreless innings in the ninth and 10th, Cora had his pick of pitchers in the bullpen coming off an open day and heading into one.
Did Cora call on Heath Hembree? No. Joe Kelly? Nope. Matt Barnes? Negative.
Cora called on Poyner, the player Cora said he wouldn't put into a pressure situation on opening day and who had previously been to Fenway five or six times (three or four as fan) as a visitor.
"Obviously I was very excited but I was just trying to keep my emotions in check, stay calm and try to make pitches," Poyner said. "I stepped back a couple times trying to collect my thoughts, collect my breath, take it in and make pitches."
Poyner, mixing an 89 mph fastball and a changeup around 81, struck out the first two batters he faced in a perfect 11th. In the 12th, a single, sacrifice and a line drive put the go-ahead run on third base with veteran Kevin Kiermaier at the plate. The count ran to 2-1 before Poyner threw a changeup down, and a fastball up past Kiermaier to keep the game tied and to set up Hanley Ramirez's heroics in the bottom half.
"I saw that in Sarasota (during spring training)," Cora said. "(Tim) Beckham hit a home run off of him and then Jonathan Schoop came in and he threw five fastballs inside against him and he jammed him. And that's when he got my eye.
“He’s a guy that with a fastball, throwing 89-90, he can get people out. We’ve been talking to him about using the changeup against lefties and he’s been doing a better job. He’s a good pitcher. Tough to pick up the ball. In an era that we talk about pitching vertical (changing eye level, mixing low and high pitches) he does an outstanding job."