Sure, there was a fight. (Click here for more on that.)
Yes, J.D. Martinez hit a grand slam.
And the Red Sox win streak was ended at nine games thanks to the Yankees' 10-7 victory Wednesday night at Fenway Park. (For a complete recap, click here.)
But after the heart rates had gone down and everyone realized we are just 11 games in, the reality of what truly was important to the Red Sox should have kicked in. This should have been all about David Price's left arm.
The Red Sox starter suffered through the shortest start of his career, lasting just an inning thanks to experiencing a sensation in his left hand. Something clearly wasn't right even before his exit, with the pinpoint control which had resulted in no runs over his first 14 innings this season abandoning him. By the time Bobby Poyner came on for the second inning, Price had allowed four runs while throwing just 16 of his 35 pitches for strikes.
Price is undeniably one of the most important pieces of this Red Sox puzzle, paving the way for Yawkey Way/Jersey Street breath-holding until a diagnosis was given.
Fortunately for the Red Sox, the postgame explanation was about as palatable as the Red Sox could have hoped for.
"It's alright. I'll play catch tomorrow and get ready for my next start," Price said.
When asked what exactly happened he said, "My whole hand. Didn't have any feeling in my fingertips. It was something I've felt before but it didn't go away. ... I had no pain. I have no pain. Even when I came in and did all the stuff with the doctors I still had no pain. It was tough. Those guys didn't quit. They continued to battle. That was a very good sign. It stinks to not extend our winning streak like that, but we'll move on and get them tomorrow."
In the short-term, the outing put the Red Sox in a bind, with Alex Cora choosing to string together the final eight innings with Poyner, Heath Hembree, Matt Barnes, Joe Kelly, Brian Johnson and Carson Smith. They could live with that, even though it resulted in just their fourth loss in their last 84 games when scoring six or more runs.
If Price wasn't (or isn't) OK, that's the real news.
But, first of all, the lefty said this sensation isn't anything new.
"The bullpen wasn't too bad. My arm felt better in the game than it did in the bullpen. It loosened up just fine. My hand, I don't know how to really explain it or describe it, but it's something that I've always had to deal with," Price said.
And, secondly, he is insisting this has nothing to do with that elbow issue from a year ago.
"No. I'm playing catch," he said when asked if there would be any more tests. "I threw a couple of baseballs in the eighth inning upstairs against the wall. My hand was thawed out from earlier and I felt fine."
"As you guys know, we've been trying to take care of them from the get-go," Cora said. "As soon as he mentioned it to Dana [LeVangie], we took him out. They were looking at him inside. Tomorrow he's going to come back, most likely he's going to try to play catch and go from there, but it seems like he should be fine as of now. But tomorrow we re-evaluate him and we go from there."
