The Los Angeles Dodgers extended their winning streak to four games with Tuesday’s 7-0 victory over the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium. Trevor Bauer was dominant in his first home start of the regular season, allowing just one hit over seven shutout innings.
The right-hander collected nine strikeouts, issued just two walks and retired his final 14 batters faced. Bauer was followed by David Price out of the bullpen in the eighth inning.
After a rough couple of appearances to begin the year, the 35-year-old needed all of 11 pitches to toss a 1-2-3 inning, albeit in mop-up duty.
“I still thought it was a big inning to get him untracked. He hadn’t pitched in a week, so to stay sharp, I really wanted to get him in there regardless of the situation,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
“What he’s done in the weight room with Travis Smith, Brandon McDaniel and the pitching guys, tonight was a really good night. The way the ball was coming out of his hand, the cutter, fastball and changeup. Something to build on.”
Tuesday’s appearance against the Rockies was Price’s first in over a week. He last took the mound on April 5 against the Oakland Athletics — a relief outing that saw him give up three runs on four hits in two innings of work.
“I’ll tell you this, I don’t care about the line score. What I do care about is he takes the baseball and the stuff is there. I think we can’t lose sight of the fact he hasn’t pitched in over a year at the Major League level,” Roberts said at the time.
“When you see the fastball, where it’s at, the cutter characteristics, the changeup and what it’s doing, that’s something I can really be encouraged about. The command, I think right now he’s just not as sharp as he will be.
“He’s always been a guy that executes and has command. It’s not there right now, and that’s to be expected. But the stuff is in play, so I have all the confidence in the world in David.”
Price trying to ‘develop own routine’ as reliever
After carving out an excellent career as a starter, Price is now trying to do the same in the bullpen. He recently detailed what has been the biggest challenge thus far.
“I think just kind of developing my own routine. Identifying what situations I might be in the game, just knowing when to get up and start stretching, stuff like that,” Price said.
“Whenever I’m out on the mound, I feel good, both mentally and physically. I’m just kind of lacking the execution right now. That’s something I’ve always done a really good job of: moving the baseball in and out, fastball, changeup, cutter, whatever I’m throwing.
“Right now that is kind of the thing I’m lacking right now: that execution on my pitches. Threw a light side today and everything felt really good. Executed pitches. To me, that is what I’m lacking right now.”
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