The Cleveland Indians have a long history of facing David Price and most of it is not great.
Although many of the faces have changed over his nine-year career, the 31-year-old has made a living off of dominating Indians hitters.
Price has started 14 games against the Tribe over his career.
His numbers include a 10-2 record with a 2.24 ERA, 100 strikeouts and 28 walks over 92.1 innings pitched.
When pitching at Progressive Field, Price is 5-0 in seven career starts with a 2.27 ERA, 49 strikeouts and 16 walks over 43.2 innings.
If there is one area in which the Tribe could be encouraged about Price’s history, it’s his postseason struggles.
The left-hander is 2-7 over 14 postseason appearances (eight starts), with a 5.12 ERA.
At the end of the day, all of these stats could turn out to be meaningless, but based on past history, Price has plenty of reason to be confident going up against the Tribe, given his track record.
Price only faced the Indians one time in 2016, all the way back on April 5, and pitched a gem, striking out ten batters in six innings of work. He allowed two earned runs and the Red Sox went on to win 6-2.
The Tribe has an ace of their own going against Price, 2014 Cy Young Award-winner Corey Kluber.
Friday night marks the fourth time these two pitchers will square off head-to-head. In the previous three duels, Price is 2-0 with three earned runs allowed over 18.2 innings pitched. He also struck out 24 hitters. Facing Kluber seems to bring the best out of him.
Meanwhile, Kluber has struggled in those three starts, allowing 11 earned runs in 14.1 innings, striking out 17 batters.
Kluber’s history against the Boston Red Sox is somewhat inconsistent, as he is 2-3 with a 4.78 ERA, with 52 strikeouts in 49 innings over nine games (eight starts).
In 2016, Kluber faced Boston twice, putting forth one lackluster performance (against Price), and pitching a dominant seven inning outing in July, when he struck out six, gave up two earned runs, and only allowed five hits en route to 4-2 victory.
This will be Kluber’s first postseason appearance of his career and how he fares is a mystery, whereas Price does not have an impressive playoff resume.
The duel begins at 4:38 pm. Plenty of questions are about to be answered.
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