Price, Red Sox, put L.A. away
LOS ANGELES — The Boston Red Sox really are that great.
David Price proved his postseason mettle, working seven innings. Steve Pearce homered twice and Boston beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 on Sunday to finish off a one-sided World Series in five games.
A tormented franchise during decades of frustration and despair before ending an 86-year championship drought in 2004, the Red Sox have become baseball's team of the century with four titles in 15 seasons.
“It's very special. Seeing all these grown men over there, just acting like kids, that's what it's all about,” Price said.
Alex Cora's team romped to a 17-2 start and a club-record 108 wins, then went 11-3 in the postseason, dispatching the 100-win New York Yankees and the 103-victory and defending champion Houston Astros in the playoffs. Cora became the first manager from Puerto Rico to win a title and just the fifth rookie manager overall.
Pearce, the World Series MVP, hit a two-run homer on Clayton Kershaw's sixth pitch. Solo homers by Mookie Betts in the sixth inning and J.D. Martinez in the seventh quieted the Dodger Stadium crowd, and Pearce added a solo drive off Pedro Baez in the eighth.
“We are a bunch of grinders,” Pearce said, “and this is exactly where we knew we were going to be.”
Pearce, a June acquisition from Toronto, had three homers and seven RBIs in the final two games of the Series.
The Dodgers became the first team ousted on its home field in consecutive Series since the New York Giants in 1936 and `37.
