Red Sox lefty David Price exits early from start against Houston Astros

Boston Red Sox left-handed pitcher David Price was removed in the first inning from Saturday night’s game against the Houston Astros.

It’s never a good sign when your starting pitcher can’t make it through the first inning. That’s the unenviable situation the Boston Red Sox found themselves in against the Houston Astros.

David Price was removed after facing three batters and tossing 15 pitches. He recorded two outs, including a strikeout, while allowing a hit. It appeared Price was on his way to a solid start but the Red Sox coaching staff clearly saw something wasn’t right, quickly signaling for Colten Brewer to get up and warming in the bullpen.

His velocity was down a bit with his four-seam fastball barely cracking 90 mph. Aside from that, there was no obvious sign of Price laboring. The word from the Red Sox is that Price’s removal was precautionary due to flu-like symptoms.

So, that’s good news, right? The immediate concern was that Price suffered a recurrence of the elbow tendinitis that sent him to the injured list earlier this month.

Yet it’s hard to take this reasoning without a bit of skepticism. Price returned from the IL on May 20, tossing five innings without allowing an earned run in a win against the Toronto Blue Jays. The results were solid enough yet it was a slight concern that he was only allowed to stay in for 67 pitches.

Now he gets knocked out in the first inning of his next appearance. If Price was battling the flu, why send him out to the mound at all? Manager Alex Cora must have known that Price was under the weather prior to the game. What did they see in those 15 pitches that went unnoticed during his pregame warm-ups?

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Brewer managed to retire the side after Price was pulled and stayed in for a scoreless second inning. At least Price pitching at less than 100 percent didn’t cost the Red Sox any runs. However, it could have ramifications beyond tonight.

Price’s early exit puts a lot of pressure on a thin bullpen. It’s one thing to send in your bottom-tier relievers for mop up duty when the starter gets lit up. It’s another story when the starter is forced out early due to injury, or an illness in this case. Not only do the Red Sox have an uphill battle piecing together a pitching strategy in a tight game against a fellow American League contender but this situation will also leave their bullpen depleted heading into Sunday’s game.

Don’t be surprised if the Red Sox make a roster move or two to get some reinforcements for the bullpen tomorrow.

It’s an unfortunate setback for Price but at least an illness would be a best-case scenario. If that’s all it turns out to be, Price should be ready to go for his next scheduled start.