Yankees 10, Red Sox 1: New York remains unkind to Price

NEW YORK --- To Curt Schilling, sure, Mystique and Aura were just a pair of mythical nightclub dancers.

When it comes to David Price starting for the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium, those two ladies of the evening revert to the ghosts that have haunted many an opposing player on this hallowed ground.

Price was far from the sole architect of his demise Wednesday night. Three home runs – two by Luke Voit, one by Miguel Andujar – all scraped into the right field boxes [...]

NEW YORK --- To Curt Schilling, sure, Mystique and Aura were just a pair of mythical nightclub dancers.

When it comes to David Price starting for the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium, those two ladies of the evening revert to the ghosts that have haunted many an opposing player on this hallowed ground.

Price was far from the sole architect of his demise Wednesday night. Three home runs – two by Luke Voit, one by Miguel Andujar – all scraped into the right field boxes and traveled an average of 341.3 feet. Eduardo Nunez committed a costly two-run error on a routine grounder that would have ended the bottom of the third inning.

The overall performance from Price was improved from his last outing here on July 1, but the end result remained the same. New York postponed Boston’s planned celebration of an American League East title for the second straight game, this time via a 10-1 victory in front of 43,297 fans.

“I expect to go out there and be great every fifth day,” Price said. “It doesn’t matter who I’m pitching against or what park I’m pitching in. It just hasn’t been the case here in Yankee Stadium the past year or two.”

Price’s previous five starts here with Boston had been collectively disastrous – 29 earned runs allowed in just 25 innings, which translates to a grisly 10.44 ERA. His last road outing against the Yankees saw the left-hander yield a career-high five home runs in an 11-1 defeat. Only when Voit’s second round-tripper of the night settled into the first row could any credible comparison be drawn, and the Red Sox magic number remained at 2.

“Before the game we talked about keeping the ball in the ballpark, and we didn’t today,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “It really doesn’t matter where we’re playing. We hit in the same place.”

Andujar’s solo shot leading off the second preceded a mess that was largely of Price’s own making. The bases were loaded with two outs on a pair of walks and a Voit single through the left side, prompting pitching coach Dana LeVangie to visit the mound. Aaron Judge dug in and Price regrouped to face the right-handed slugger in a 1-0 game.

Price’s only pitch to Judge was a cut-fastball down in the zone, and the resulting two-hopper to the left side went between the legs of Nunez and into left field. Gary Sanchez strolled home from third base, Voit hustled around from second and New York had some separation in a 3-0 game. Voit led off the fourth with his first homer and notched his second in the sixth, a two-run shot that allowed the Yankees to match their club record for a season with 245.

“He made some good pitches,” Cora said. “We didn’t make a play behind him. I think that was obviously costly.”

Price issued four walks to tie his season high and absorbed his first loss in 12 starts. The last came on that July night, and the interim saw Price post a 2.22 ERA over 69 innings. Boston had dropped just one of those 11 games, as Price left in the seventh and watched the bullpen fail in a 6-3 defeat against Houston on Sept. 7.

“I don’t feel like I really commanded any of my pitches that well over the course of the night,” Price said. “Fastball command is something I have to have, and I don’t feel like I had my best fastball command tonight. I paid for it.”

Boston squandered a chance to jump on New York starter Luis Severino in the first and extend a tailspin that saw him carry a 6.34 ERA over his last 12 starts into Wednesday. The Red Sox put two men in scoring position with one out, but Xander Bogaerts popped to short and Mitch Moreland grounded back to the pitcher. Severino required just six pitches in a 1-2-3 second and was off to the races, retiring eight straight during one stretch and completing seven innings for the second time in 14 starts.

“He was a different pitcher today,” Cora said. “We put good at-bats. We weren’t able to finish. He used his changeup a little bit more today right from the get-go.”

Boston’s lone run of the night off Severino came courtesy of Sandy Leon, who snapped an 0-for-30 skid with an RBI single to the right field corner in the fourth. Leon’s base hit plated Nunez, who led off with a double down the line in left. J.D. Martinez singled three times and was stranded on each occasion.

bkoch@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @BillKoch25