Technik » shot off the pace after a 70 marred by hitting his

BOSTON -- David Price is finally pitching like the $217 million man the Boston Red Sox gambled he would be, but he has yet to turn the page against the New York Yankees.Price, who is 1-2 with a 7.79 ERA in three starts against the Yankees this year, hopes to do just that when the Red Sox host the Yankees in the third game of a four-game series Saturday.Boston (83-64) maintained its two-game lead in the American League East with a 7-4 victory over New York on Friday.The Yankees (77-70), meanwhile, dropped six games back in the AL East and are slipping further behind Baltimore and Toronto in the battle for the two AL wild-card spots.Its frustrating, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. Weve got to start winning games. Thats the bottom line. Its got to start (Saturday). We know were seeing a good pitcher, but its got to start tomorrow.Aside from his struggles against New York, Price has been virtually untouchable as of late. The former American League Cy Young Award winner is 7-0 with a 2.16 ERA in his last seven starts.Youve got an elite performer whos in a run of starts that might be one of the best of his career, Red Sox manager John Farrell said. David Price on the mound for us is a good day.That hasnt always been the case, as Price (16-8, 3.81 ERA) has had an up-and-down first season in Boston.In Prices last outing against the Yankees, he gave up only three runs but was shellacked for 11 hits and a walk while registering just one strikeout in a 5 2/3-inning defeat.Overall, Price is 14-9 with a 4.35 ERA in 34 games (33 starts) against New York.Mark Teixeira has been one of Prices toughest customers, with three home runs and nine RBI against him, despite hitting just .214 (15-for-70) against the southpaw.Teixeira returned to the lineup Friday after missing two games with a neck ailment, going 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored out of the eight hole in the batting order.Its not something that Ive done a lot of, Girardi said of batting Teixeira eighth. I kind of looked at the matchup.Teixeira is hitting just .199 in 104 games this season.Meanwhile, Brian McCann is 10-for-29 (.345) with three homers and seven RBI off of Price.Former Red Sox hero-turned-villain Jacoby Ellsbury has also enjoyed success against Price, hitting him at a .357 clip (25-for-70) with one homer and six RBI.New York hands the ball to Bryan Mitchell (1-1, 6.14 ERA), who is making his third start of the year after missing a chunk of time with a left great toe tear. It is his first start ever against the Red Sox.Mitchell gave up six runs (five earned) on nine hits in a 2 1/3-inning loss to the Dodgers last Monday. He is 0-0 with a 6.14 ERA in four career appearances against the Red Sox.Jackie Bradley is 2-for-2 with an RBI, Xander Bogaerts is 1-for-3 with a double and Travis Shaw is 1-for-2 against Mitchell.The Red Sox will have Andrew Benintendi back in left field after he had the night off Friday. Benintendi will be playing just his second game back after missing 17 with a left knee sprain.Given the amount of time down, felt like were going to ease Andrew back into this, Farrell said.The Yankees, meanwhile, may be without closer Dellin Betances, as Girardi wanted to give him a couple days off after pitching three consecutive games and giving up a walk-off, three-run homer to Hanley Ramirez on Thursday.Its part of it. Its part of being a closer, Girardi said. As great as he was, we saw (Mariano Rivera) go through a couple times in a row that he would struggle. ... Hell bounce back. Tom Glavine Braves Jersey . Having already announced that the race will start May 9 with three stages in Northern Ireland and Ireland and finish in Trieste on June 1, the rest of the route was unveiled Monday. Darren ODay Braves Jersey . -- Jimmy Walkers first PGA Tour trophy came with a special gift tucked inside. http://www.baseballbravesproshop.com/tyler-flowers-braves-jersey/ . Speaking Thursday on TSN 1050 Thursday, the Leafs GM also touched on the questions surrounding the teams leadership and the struggles of his big-name free-agent signing. “Its not from lack of effort from the coaching staff. Dale Murphy Braves Jersey . Dusautoir, the former World Player of the Year, sustained a torn bicep playing for Toulouse in the Heineken Cup on Saturday. The flanker, who has played 65 times for France, is expected to be out for up to four months. Nick Markakis Jersey . -- Catcher Brett Hayes has agreed to a $630,000, one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals, avoiding salary arbitration. World No. 2 Rory McIlroy got exactly what he wanted to keep his hopes of a successful title defence alive in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.McIlroy completed a second round of 68 more than an hour before the leaders teed off and headed to the beach hoping not to be facing an insurmountable deficit over the last 36 holes.And although Sergio Garcia and Francesco Molinari both shot 67 to share the halfway lead on nine-under par, McIlroy had not given up hope of coming from eight shots behind to claim a fourth win of the season.If Im within eight or nine shots going into the weekend, I still feel like I have a decent chance, said McIlroy, whose opening 75 was his first over-par score in 29 rounds in the European Tours season finale, an event he has won twice and never finished worse than 11th in in seven appearances.Thursday was just one of those days. I was mentally very flat, still in holiday mode and not quite switched on to what I needed to do. I sort of turned it around today and hopefully can do the same over the weekend.Garcia carded six birdies and one bogey in his 67, which also featured a brilliant par save on the 12th after driving into a bush and being forced to take a penalty drop.I was fortunate a guy from the crowd found it for me and I was able to drop outside the bush, the Ryder Cup star said.I hit a really good shot from there with a seven iron and made a really nice putt. I had a good feeling on that putt. I felt like I was going to make it and it was one of those career fours.Molinari is enjoying arguably the best form of his career after winning the Italian Open in September, finishing sixth in the WGC-HSBC Champions and fourth in the Shriners Open thanks to a closing 61 in Las Vegas.And to make matters even better, the 34-year-olds older brother Edoardo finished jjoint second in the European Tours qualifying school on Thursday to regain his card for next season.ddddddddddddHe was actually disappointed not to win it but I told him not to be too greedy, Molinari said.Second is obviously very good for him and its nice to see him back. He did it last year as well but Im sure hell do his best next season not to show up there for a third time. It sounds like hes playing a lot better, so Im expecting good things from him next season.First-round leader Lee Westwood is a shot off the pace after a 70 marred by hitting his approach on the 18th into a water hazard, with Tyrrell Hatton, Joost Luiten, Charl Schwartzel and Bernd Wiesberger all on seven-under.Somebody clicked a camera on the right-hand side and put me off, Westwood said.It happens and you just have to regroup. The pitch shot in was poor, but it was a good two-putt.Im one off the lead and Ive got a good chance. Im happy with the way Im playing and trying to finish off the season strongly.Race to Dubai rivals Henrik Stenson and Danny Willett were both on three under after rounds of 69 and 70 respectively, although Stenson was more concerned with the well-being of a female spectator hit on the head by his tee shot on the 13th.It was a very unfortunate circumstance, said the Open champion, who leads Willett by 299,675 points.I flared my five-iron right and Im standing there thinking Is it going in the bunker or flying over the bunker? and next thing I see it go into the crowd.Unfortunately I hit the lady and she went down, but I had some reports later in the round that she was doing OK. Im just making sure that were going to get her details so I can send her something nice. ' ' '