NewsPrice stellar as he earns his first win
Rays left-hander strikes out 11 in 5 2/3 innings of work
By Bill Chastain / MLB.com
05/30/09 8:40 PM ET
ST. PETERSBURG -- Watching David Price on Saturday afternoon brought to mind the spectacle of a Michael Jordan dunk or a Tiger Woods drive, evoking superlatives like "high octane," "major gas," "electric stuff," and, simply, "wow."Yes, the Rays' prodigy was just that good while picking up his first regular-season Major League win in a 5-2 win over the Twins at Tropicana Field.
"Any win you've got to look at all the positives, so that was fun out there," Price said.
Price made his second start of the 2009 season after starting eight games for Triple-A Durham, and, to say the least, he dazzled, displaying the talents that enticed the Rays to select him with the first pick of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft. Along with the talent display came a healthy dose of the same grit that allowed him to become a postseason weapon out of the bullpen in 2008.
In the second, Price managed to overcome a careless fielding play -- of his own -- after he stabbed a shot back to the mound and lobbed the ball over first baseman Carlos Pena's head to put runners at second and third with two outs.
"I think that's the most unathletic thing I've ever done," Price said. "That was embarrassing."
But he recovered to get an inning-ending groundout with no runs scoring.
Price used the third to conduct a clinic in damage control. Denard Span singled to lead off the inning and Joe Mauer followed with a double down the left-field line. Justin Morneau grounded to second to score Span, then Price struck out Michael Cuddyer and Joe Crede to end the inning.
"Rarely do you see a left-hander throw as hard as he does and he had good offspeed stuff that he threw for strikes," Crede said. "When all that goes together, it makes for a tough day."
Price's pitch count turned out to be the 23-year-old's only adversary on Saturday.
By the end of the third, the left-hander had six strikeouts, but he had spent 64 pitches in doing so, causing the crowd of 36,052 to wonder how many pitches manager Joe Maddon's budget had allotted. The magic number turned out to be 108, which took him through 5 2/3 innings before the call went out to the bullpen. Particularly compelling was Price's grand exit when he blew a 96-mph fastball past Delmon Young for his final pitch and 11th strikeout of the afternoon.
"David really had great stuff again, better job of commanding his fastball, really throwing the ball well, right up until the very end when we took him out," Maddon said. "He could have gone longer regarding his arm strength. I just thought that was enough."
When Maddon went to the mound to get the youngster, a standing ovation followed Price to the dugout. The intensity of the adulation affirmed the fact many Rays fans view Price as a savior for resurrecting the team's fortunes after a slow start this season.
The ovation "was awesome," Price said. "Great fans here. It's fun to be here. It's fun to pitch here. I enjoy it."
Maddon believes Price can handle his lofty expectations.
"Once he feels comfortable and really gets command of his fastball, you can heap on as many expectations as you want," Maddon said. "He's going to be fine with all of that. You can see it. He's still growing into this position.
"It's not even about expectations. It's about being 20-something years old and getting his first couple of starts in the big leagues. This guy has not spent a lot of time in pro ball. And that's what you have to understand, there's still development that has to be done. And we understand that, that's part of the patient process. He's going to be very good. He's going to be really good. His stuff was dominant."
Joe Dillon started at designated hitter on Saturday after going hitless in two starts at Cleveland earlier in the week. The Rays acquired the veteran as the player to be named in the trade that sent Adam Kennedy to Oakland on May 9 and sent him to Durham. The Rays selected him on Tuesday and cashed in the dividend in the third inning when he hit a 1-1 pitch from Francisco Liriano into the left-field stands to tie the game at 1.
Meanwhile, Carl Crawford kept the four-run third going with a 10-pitch at-bat that concluded with an RBI single to drive home the Rays' second run. And while his run of 32 consecutive stolen bases came to a close, he extended his home run streak to two games with a solo blast in the seventh that cleared the center-field wall to put the Rays up, 5-1.
Crawford's at-bat "was huge," Maddon said. "He's been doing that a lot. He's special. He's been such a tough out and the acceptance of the infield hit and then you see the home run to center field. You see the rare combination of speed and power. And he's just playing probably the best baseball I've ever seen him play for me."
Grant Balfour took over for Price and put forth a solid effort with 2 2/3 innings in which he gave up one earned run and Randy Choate took over with one out in the ninth and got the final two outs to earn his second save in as many nights.
Bill Chastain is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
