McAdam: David Price helps to save an overworked bullpen with seven shutout innings

For a pitcher on the mound, it's best to keep focused on the target.

But you'll forgive David Price if, only metaphorically, he was looking both behind and ahead Sunday afternoon.

Price knew teammate Rick Porcello had managed just 12 outs in Saturday's loss, necessitating five long innings from Red Sox relievers to close out the game against the Baltimore Orioles. And he knew Monday's series finale will involve a spot start by Hector Velazquez, who, in a similar spot exactly a week ago, pitched effectively but briefly, giving the Sox just 39 pitches and three innings in Arizona.

Price knew what that meant: he needed to provide length to a depleted pitching staff. Of course, going deep into games is always a goal for starting pitchers. It's self-evident that the longer you stay on the mound, the better it is for your team.

But this was especially -- maybe even doubly -- true for the Red Sox on Sunday. Another four- or five-inning stint -- before Sunday, only four of the first 15 games saw a Red Sox starter get through the sixth -- and the Red Sox would have really been in a bad spot.

"Everybody knew where we were pitching-wise today,'' noted Alex Cora. "For him to go seven and get the ball to those last two guys (Ryan Brasier and Matt Barnes) was very important.''

"I knew the situation,'' said Price. "Got to put up as many zeroes as possible, so that was big for us. But we could score 100 runs in the first inning and my approach isn't going to change -- I'm out there trying to pound the strike zone, get quick outs and get us as deep as possible in that ballgame.''

Price was efficient and effective from the start. In his first five innings of work against the Baltimore Orioles, he pitched to just one batter over the minimum, allowing just one hit. He yielded a leadoff single to Renato Nunez in the second, but kept him anchored to first. Two innings later, Rafael Devers airmailed a throw wildly to first, putting Mike Rickard on second and giving the Orioles their first baserunner in scoring position.

But Rickard tried to swipe third and Christian Vazquez threw him out with a laser throw.

On and on Price went. Things got tougher in the later innings. In both the sixth and seventh, he allowed leadoff doubles. Yet both times, not only did the Orioles not score, they also failed to advance the runner at all.

With runners in scoring position, Price managed to hold the Orioles without a hit in seven at-bats, bearing down to extricate himself from the few jams he encountered.

"We were able to make pitches in those situations today and that was big for us,'' Price said.

Perhaps we should have seen this coming. While Chris Sale has battled illness and flashed well-below-average velocity and both Porcello and Nathan Eovaldi have been atypically wild and Eduardo Rodriguez has been his usual enigmatic self, Price has actually been somewhat consistent.

In each of his first two starts, he managed to at least give the Sox six innings. In one, almost all of the damage came on homers -- two solo, one two-run shot; in the other, he was victimized by a big inning, allowing four runs in one frame against the Diamondbacks.

On Sunday, there were no hiccups, not even a hint of a big inning against him. The Orioles never got more than one baserunner in any one inning. And because he was around the strike zone all day (no walks) and had the advantage of consistently pitching ahead, he was economical -- in each of his first six innings, his pitch count never fluctuated to fewer than 12 pitches or more than 15.

It was unquestionably the best start from a Red Sox pitcher this year, better even than the one Eduardo Rodriguez provided Friday night.

When he left after seven, Cora had the final six outs mapped out for his two high-leverage relievers: Brasier for the eighth and Barnes for the ninth.

"Now, (Monday), we kind of like reset and we're ready,'' said a satisfied Cora, noting that his other six relievers got the benefit of a day of rest.