McAdam: With Yankees on deck, time for David Price to make adjustments ... quickly

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Rick Porcello went from winning the Cy Young Award in 2016 to a highly disappointing 2017 season that saw him lead the league in hits and homers allowed.

So, Porcello worked all spring on the command and action on his two-seam fastball, while making sure his four-seamer was regularly located at the top of the strike zone. In an era when launch angle is king, Porcello knew it was vital for him to stay out of the middle of the plate.

It's an adjustment that, a little over a month into the season, has paid off handsomely for Porcello and the Red Sox. He's 4-0 with a 2.33 ERA.

Now, it's David Price's turn.

Whatever he's doing isn't working. That much was obvious Thursday night when he was kicked around for nine runs on six hits in just 3.2 innings in a lopsided 11-5 loss to the lowly Texas Rangers. But it wasn't just his most recent start. Over his last five outings, Price has pitched to an 8.22 ERA, leaving questions about whether the 14 shutout innings he threw at the start of the season were some sort of aberration.

For the most part, the Red Sox rotation has been consistent enough to keep the Red Sox in most games. The 3.22 ERA before Thursday's debacle is evidence of that.

But Price isn't holding up his end of the bargain of late. In his last two starts, he's been shellacked for 15 runs and he's given up four or more runs in four of his last five starts. Only once in that span has he pitched as many as six innings. His control has been suspect -- after issuing four walks in two of his last three starts, he walked ''just'' two, but also hit a batter and, frankly, the Rangers were having too much success swinging away to wait patiently for walks.

"Tonight, he wasn't good,'' concluded Alex Cora. "We have to make an adjustment.''

In Cora's view, Price is making it easy for the hitters. Whether it's his cutter, his curveball or his sinker, every pitch is being thrown at relatively the same speed. That enables hitters to lock in on a portion of the strike zone and be ready to successfully catch up to whatever pitch Price is determined to throw.

The Texas lineup is missing at least three regulars and came into Thursday night hitting a collective .237. But it didn't matter as the Rangers regularly teed off on Price, often when behind in the count.

Both Price and Cora said that the pitcher was fully healthy, so this isn't physical. That's good in one sense, since Price missed two long stretches of last season with elb0w/forearm issues, and another would raise the specter of major season-ending surgery.

But at least an injury would explain what's going on with Price.

The pitcher himself chose a more basic explanation than his manager in explaining his woes: fastball command. If Price can't establish his primary pitch and locate it with precision, it affects everything else in his repertoire.

Here's a daunting thought: Price's next outing is scheduled to come in New York against a Yankee lineup that is just now starting to flex its muscles. If Price isn't more precise with his command, doesn't offer a better mix of his pitches, and doesn't achieve some separation with his pitches, that could be a mismatch of epic proportions.

"This is always a game of adjustments,'' he conceded, "and I've got to make a couple of adjustments.''

"We'll work on it,'' vowed Cora. "We'll check on the percentages (in terms of pitch mix) and where we're at. Just like we did with Drew (Pomeranz), just like do with everybody else and make adjustments.''

Porcello made his. Pomeranz began to make his Wednesday. Now it's up to Price to do the same — and the sooner the better.