The Blue Jays' newest bullpen option is apparently ace starter David Price
Jays bring David Price out of 'pen to pitch in Game 4
"Postseason relief pitcher David Price" is the new "regular-season starting pitcher David Price" because the Blue Jays brought the AL Cy Young Award hopeful out of the bullpen in their 8-4 win over the Rangers in Game 4 of the ALDS.
The Blue Jays jumped out to an early lead thanks to first-inning home runs from Josh Donaldson and Chris Colabello, and a second-inning blast from Kevin Pillar that Price caught while he was chillin' out in the 'pen.
When it was time for manager John Gibbons to make a pitching change, he summoned his ace from that very bullpen and brought him in to finish off the Rangers in the fifth frame. It took Price all of one pitch to get the Jays out of the inning. The left-hander then returned for the sixth to get Adrian Beltre to fly out to right field, induce a Prince Fielder groundout and sit Mitch Moreland down on strikes:
Price ultimately surrendered six hits and three runs over three innings -- enough to earn the win -- before Gibbons replaced him with Aaron Sanchez. In the postgame presser, Gibbons said that he didn't want to let the Rangers back into the game and was particularly woried about Shin-Soo Choo.
We'd posit that the Rangers might be catching a break by not having to face David Price in Game 5 on Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET on FS1, but then we remembered that that means they've got to deal with Marcus Stroman, and that hardly feels like an advantage. And it definitely doesn't feel like an advantage when Price talks about it like this: