Price’s new postseason reputation
Until a week ago, David Price had the reputation as one of baseball’s least effective post-season pitchers. He was famously winless through 10 post-season starts across six seasons and for four teams.  Then Price beat the Astros 4-1 last week to wrap up the American League pennant. Suddenly he is this mad post-season genius.
Okay, that may be gilding the lily a bit…but Price did manage six innings Wednesday – more than any other pitcher in this series has completed — and with a single exception they were solid innings. He retired the side in order three times, and allowed just an uneventful walk in two other innings.
His only reversion to prior post-season form came in the top of the fourth when the Dodgers strung together all three of their base hits – each one a single – with a walk and a sacrifice fly to produce their only two runs. Price’s secret was simple: working ahead. Of the 24 batters he faced, 18 either got a first-pitch strike or put the first pitch into play.
The result was efficiency. Price needed only 88 pitches to complete those six innings; that’s fewer than 15 per inning. He only threw 30 outside the strike zone, spending most of the night on corners.
As it happened, Price did better on those corners than plate umpire Kerwin Danley, who if he did anything occasionally got in Price’s way. According to Statcast, Price threw 14 pitches that either just caught or just missed the fringe of the strike zone.   Ten of those 14 pitches creased the strike zone…but Price only got the call on five of them. So as efficient as Price was, with some help behind the plate he might have been even more dominant.