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Mitch's Sports Report: Price's First Ever Playoff Win Sends Red Sox To World Series

David Price's major league career has already spanned ten years. It includes a Cy Young Award and a trip to the World Series, but in all that time he had never won a start in the playoffs. Well, in finally checking that box off his to-do list last night in Houston, he's also led the Boston Red Sox into the World Series.

On paper this did not look like the game for Price to get his first post-season W. He was pitching on just three day's rest due to a stomach ailment that weakened Red Sox ace Chris Sale, who would otherwise have taken the hill, and he was facing a fully rested former Cy Young winner and American League MVP in Houston ace Justin Verlander, who had already beaten the Red Sox in game one of the American League championship series.

But Price was in total control, pinpointing his fastball on the corners and mixing in change-ups that had Astons hitters flailing and frustrated for a full six innings in which the lefty yielded just three hits and no runs while striking out nine.

He was staked to a slim 1-0 lead in the third inning on a mammoth home run to left field by J.D. Martinez, who hadn't gone yard since game one of the American League division series against the Yankees, and Price had little margin for error as the Houston faithful in Minute Maid Park tried to will their team to just that one swing that would tie the game.

He was given a bit more wiggle room in the sixth when 21-year old Rafael Devers came up with two on following a double by Mitch Moreland and a single by Ian Kinsler, and took a high Verlander fastball to the opposite field, a high arcing shot that would have scraped the Green Monster in Fenway Park, been an out in many other ballparks, but in the quirky Houston home field landed for a home run in the Crawford boxes that jut out of left field.

With the Sox now leading 4-0 it was up to first year manager Alex Cora to start making the right moves, and he's been excelling in doing so throughout this post season. He ended Price's night in the seventh in favor of Matt Barnes, who woke up the home crowd by giving up a solo home run to Marwin Gonzalez, and so with two outs Cora turned to his starting rotation, bringing on game three winner Nathan Eovaldi to get the final out of the seventh and three more in the 8th, which he did in fine fashion, throwing several fastballs by Houston hitters that hit triple digits on the radar gun.

And even though he'd pitched two innings the previous night and continued his penchant this post season for walking batters and creating palpitations throughout Red Sox Nation, Cora again turned to Craig Kimbrel to close the game and deliver a pennant, and this time, while still not perfect, Kimbrel got the job done.

He allowed one walk but struck out two before getting the final out of the game on a long fly ball deep to left center that was tracked down, appropriately, by Andrew Benintendi, whose diving grab of a sinking line drive with the bases loaded bailed Kimbrel out the night prior in game four.

So for the second series in a row the Red Sox celebrated on their opponent's home field. Jackie Bradley Jr. was named the series MVP and why not, having driven in nine runs including a grand slam in game three and a go-ahead eventual game winning two-run homer in game four.

And it's worth noting what this Red Sox team has accomplished thus far, winning every road game they've played in these playoffs, starting with two wins in the hostile territory of Yankee Stadium, then taking three straight from the defending World series champs with as dangerous a line up as you'll find in the majors on their own stomping grounds.

Who knows what will happen in the Fall Classic? The Red Sox don't even know who their opponent will be yet, with the L,A. Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers set to play game six tonight in Milwaukee, with Hyun-Jin Ryu trying to punch L.A.'s ticket to the series and Wade Miley trying to force a game seven for the Brew Crew.

But no matter who it is, the Red Sox will have home field advantage, and wrapping up the series in five games against Houston, avenging the loss from last year's divisional series, also allows extra rest for Chris Sale to recover from his ailment and regain his strength, because he is still the vital piece in the pitching rotation for Boston.

But it's a rosy picture right now for Red Sox fans. The team is playing for the World Series for the first time in five years, and for the fourth time in the past fifteen. Three of those appearances resulted in victories, starting with the demon-exorcising historic win in 2004. Another trophy this year would make a pretty nice Mount Rushmore for the 21st century Red Sox, a franchise that continues to redefine itself away from the soul-crushing losses that marked most of their efforts in the 20th.

In the NHL the Boston Bruins got goals from David Krejci and David Pastrnak, but lost their second straight when Leon Leon Draisaitl scored 37 seconds into overtime to hand the Edmonton Oilers a 3-2 win, their third win in a row and a victory in their home opener.

The Toronto Maple Leafs lost for just the second time this season, shut out 3-0 by the Pittsburgh Penguins with Evgeni Malkin scoring twice for the Pens.

There was Thursday Night football as well and the Denver Broncos returned two interceptions for touchdowns in routing the Arizona Cardinals 45-10.

The UVM women's soccer team has already secured a playoff berth but was hoping to complete its first ever five win season against America East opponents, and they had a chance, tied at one late in their contest against UMass Lowell last night.

Alyssa Oviedo scored for the Catamounts, converting a header pass from Brooke Jenkins to knot the game at one after Umass had taken a one goal lead just six minutes into the game.  

But the River Hawks struck for the game winner in the 87th minute on a free kick goal by Rachel Morrier, coming away with a 2-1 win to drop UVM's final regular season record to 6-8-3 overall, and 4-3-1 in America East play.

As for their playoff opponent, UVM will find out over the weekend who that will be. The America East playoffs begin next Thursday.
 

A graduate of NYU with a Master's Degree in journalism, Mitch has more than 20 years experience in radio news. He got his start as news director at NYU's college station, and moved on to a news director (and part-time DJ position) for commercial radio station WMVY on Martha's Vineyard. But public radio was where Mitch wanted to be and he eventually moved on to Boston where he worked for six years in a number of different capacities at member station WBUR...as a Senior Producer, Editor, and fill-in co-host of the nationally distributed Here and Now. Mitch has been a guest host of the national NPR sports program "Only A Game". He's also worked as an editor and producer for international news coverage with Monitor Radio in Boston.
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