BOSTON – From playoff flop to World Series ace in one legacy-changing October, David Price earned his second postseason victory in a row Wednesday night and moved the Boston Red Sox two wins from another title.
The left-hander pitched six innings of three-hit ball, and J.D. Martinez broke a fifth-inning tie with a two-run single during another two-out rally that sent Boston to a 4-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers and a 2-0 World Series lead.
Game 3 is Friday in Los Angeles. The Dodgers need a win to avoid an 0-3 deficit from which no team has ever recovered in the Fall Classic, and the Red Sox have won 14 of their past 16 World Series games, dating to a four-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004.
Not bad for a team that went 86 years without a championship before then.
Price had battled a curse of his own. The one-time Dodgers draft pick had been 0-9 in his first 10 postseason starts, and his team had never won a playoff game he started before this year. Boston has now won his last three starts, including the American League Championship Series Game 5 clincher against the 2017 World Series champion Houston Astros in which he pitched six shutout innings.