Red Sox pitcher Price among three to claim MLB awards
World Series champion pitcher David Price of the Boston Red Sox was named one of Major League Baseball's Comeback Players of the Year on Tuesday after playing only 16 games in 2017. The 33-year-old US left-hander won the American League Comeback Player award while Atlanta lefty pitcher Jonny Venters captured the National League Comeback trophy and Oakland A's slugger Khris Davis captured the Outstanding Designated Hitter Award. Price hurled seven innings in the title-clinching game against the Los Angeles Dodgers as Boston captured the best-of-seven final for the fourth time in 15 seasons after missing most of the 2017 campaign with a nagging left elbow injury. Price, the third Red Sox player in eight years to win the comeback award, was 2-0 with a 1.98 earned-run average and 10 strikeouts over 13 2/3 innings in the World Series. He had also gone 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA and 13 strikeouts over 10 2/3 innings in the American League final against 2017 World Series winner Houston. Price went 16-7 with a 3.58 ERA over 30 regular-season starts, the five-time All-Star allowing 70 earned runs on 151 hits with 50 walks and 177 strikeouts over 176 innings. Venters, 33, pitched the major leagues for the first time since 2012 after twice undergoing Tommy John tendon replacement surgery in the interim, giving him three such surgeries in all. He went 5-2 with three saves and a 3.67 ERA in 50 appearances in total for Atlanta and Tampa Bay. Davis, 30, became the third Oakland slugger to win the designated hitter trophy, joining Dave Parker (1989) and Dave Kingman (1984). He batted .247 with 93 runs scored, 132 hits, 25 doubles, 46 home runs and 118 runs batted in over 139 games for the A's.
