FORT MYERS, Fla. — Red Sox left-hander David Price threw nearly his full repertoire of pitches in his outing on Saturday – fastball, cutter and changeup. Everything except a curveball.

That was reserved for Mother Nature.

Price was scheduled to make his Grapefruit League debut against the Twins. But with rain in the forecast for the afternoon, he was scratched from his start, opting to pitch in a simulated four-inning game in the morning in a bullpen way at the back of the spring training complex.

“We got to keep him healthy,” Manager Alex Cora said. “Obviously, we wanted him to be there and just start feeling the flow of the games, but it’s going to be the next one.”

The Boston-Minnesota game, in fact, started late and was rained out.

Price, who said he threw a total of 90 pitches in his session, including 30 warmup pitches, was pleased with his outing.

Advertisement

“Absolutely,” he said. “Today was my best day for everything. Strength all the way through, executing pitches. You guys missed out. It was good.”

Price threw to catcher Christian Vazquez while pitching coach Dana LeVangie looked on.

“We gave him the option of pitching in a minor league setting and/or do it in the bullpen and work on all his stuff and he chose,” LeVangie said. “I felt like it was just as good for him to do that, as well, in a bullpen session.”

“He was happy the way he felt throwing his changeup, throwing his cutter, two-seamer to both sides … I thought it was a great day for him,” he said.

LeVangie occasionally stepped into the batter’s box during Price’s session, calling out the names of opponents so Price could pitch to a game plan.

“He was (the Yankees’ Brett) Gardner and (Aaron) Judge,” Price said. “He’d stand in the box like they stand, whether they’re close to the plate or far away and go from there.”

Advertisement

“It was good because a lot of guys are different when they’re in the box and, whether they’re close in or far away, it’s kind of get that feel again,” he said.

The 32-year-old Price is entering the third year of a seven-year, $217 million contract. He could opt out after this season.

The Red Sox have been bringing Price and left-hander Chris Sale along slowly this spring, monitoring their workloads in an attempt to keep them healthy throughout the regular season. An elbow injury last season limited Price to 11 starts, a career low for a full season, and he went 6-3 with a 3.38 ERA.

Price wound up as a reliever for the AL East champions in the playoffs.

“Overall, a great day, 60 pitches, four up-and-downs and he felt great, so that’s important,” Cora said. “He’s right on track now.”

Price is now scheduled to make his Grapefruit League debut on Thursday or Friday. He could still make three spring training starts.

Advertisement

“We’re not looking to build David up to 120 pitches, nine innings in spring training,” LeVangie said. “We got three more starts. We’ll build him up in the right way that he’s ready to go and ready to pitch to open the season.”

ROYALS: Outfielder Jorge Bonifacio was suspended 80 games by Major League Baseball after testing positive for the performance-enhancing substance Boldenone. The penalty will begin on opening day.

The 24-year-old Bonifacio made his major league debut last season, hitting .255 with 17 home runs and 40 RBI in 113 games.

Kansas City was reshuffling its outfield this spring after Lorenzo Cain left as a free agent, and Bonifacio was competing for playing time in the field and at designated hitter.

YANKEES: Giancarlo Stanton hit his first home run of the spring – a two-run drive off Mets starter Matt Harvey – and Aaron Judge doubled in the Yankees’ 10-3 spring training victory over the Mets.

WHITE SOX: Outfield prospect Luis Robert will miss about 10 weeks with a sprained left thumb. The 20-year-old was hurt sliding into second base on a steal this week.

NATIONALS: Second baseman Daniel Murphy didn’t experience any issues during his first on-field batting practice of the spring on Saturday.

Working his way back from offseason knee surgery, Murphy had only progressed as far as hitting in the batting cages.

Murphy still doesn’t have a timetable as to when he’ll appear in a Grapefruit League game.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.