Shaw, Red Sox drub Braves, back Price’s 14 K’s

ATLANTA — David Price matched a career-high 14 strikeouts and tossed eight strong innings with the benefit of the early lead Travis Shaw provided when he highlighted a five-RBI game with a three-run, first-inning homer in Tuesday night’s 11-4 win over the Braves at Turner Field.

Price struck out each of the final five batters he faced and recorded eight of his final nine outs via strikeout. The former American League Cy Young Award winner surrendered three consecutive singles and issued a walk with two outs in the first inning before escaping a bases-loaded threat by striking out Drew Stubbs.

Matt Wisler was not nearly as successful during the five-inning effort he provided the Braves, who have lost 16 of their first 20 games for the first time since 1988. Wisler settled down after enduring a four-run first inning, but the early damage proved too significant to overcome against Price.

MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDPrice gives bullpen some rest: The most important part of Tuesday’s performance by Price is that he gave the bullpen almost an entire night off by going eight innings. The Red Sox have asked a lot out of their relievers of late, and they’re in the midst of a stretch of playing 32 games in 33 days. The lefty was magnificent, finishing the performance with back-to-back strikeouts. Price’s best performance thus far in his short time with the Red Sox immediately followed a clunker last week at home against the Rays, when he was touched up for eight hits and eight runs over 3 2/3 innings.

Still developing: Wisler was nowhere near as sharp as he had been when he limited the …

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