NEW YORK — David Price responded to a pair of thumpings from the New York Yankees in his previous two starts against them just as you would expect him to — like a boss.

Delivering the better performance he promised a day earlier, the ace left-hander held down baseball’s second best offence until the game’s most productive lineup broke through against Ivan Nova, with Justin Smoak’s sixth-inning grand slam propelling the Toronto Blue Jays to a 6-0 victory Saturday.

By no means did Price cruise in this one, but he barely let the Yankees breathe, either. Rocked for eight runs by the Yankees last Aug. 27 and again this past April 22, he allowed just three hits and three walks with seven strikeouts in seven shutout innings of work.

He said Friday he’d be able to put those poor outings out of his mind, and clearly he had little trouble doing that.

“I made better pitches,” Price said of the difference. “I got ahead more often and when I was behind I was able to make a better pitch. And that what it boils down to, especially as pitchers, you’ve got to go out there and you have to execute. For the most part today that’s what I did.”

All the zeroes were needed with Nova similarly shoving, as both teams combined for only seven base runners through the first five innings, neither starter budging an inch.

Then Josh Donaldson worked a one-out walk in the sixth, Jose Bautista followed with a single, Edwin Encarnacion walked and Smoak whacked an 0-1 curveball he was looking for over the right-field wall for the first grand slam of his career.

“No doubt, I was all in on it,” Smoak said of hunting the breaking ball. “[Friday] I saw nothing but curveballs and off-speed pitches and in that situation, bases loaded, I knew they were going to it. I was all-in on it and was able to get one up and do something with it.”

The 132nd slam in club history was also its first ever in New York for the Blue Jays, according to Elias Sports Bureau, and with the way Price was pitching there was no doubt it would be enough to ensure a seventh straight win, 10th in 11 outings.

“Our starters have really put together a nice stretch, they’re getting deeper into games and now add a guy like Price who’s consistently doing that, he’s not just a guy who can stop the bleeding, he’s a guy who can add-on to a run,” said pitching coach Pete Walker.

“That’s what we’re seeing today. There are two benefits.”

Then there’s the bump in the standings, to the chagrin of most of the 45,255 announced at Yankee Stadium, as well.

At 60-52, a season-best eight games over .500, the Blue Jays are now just 2.5 games back of the 61-48 Yankees for the American League East lead, with 11 meetings still to come between the clubs this season.

Even with a four-game edge in the loss column, the Yankees can’t be comfortable, especially now that they’re 2-6 against the Blue Jays this year.

“We’re not there yet, we’re not going to sit here and celebrate two wins in the middle of August, even if it is against the first-place team,” said Bautista, who had a hit and scored twice. “We have a long way to go. They’re a great team, we’re a great team. We’ve just got to continue to play good.”

The Blue Jays were opportunistic in this one, capitalizing on the only opening they mustered against Nova, whose pitch count they ran up in a scoreless first that paid dividends later.

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The Yankees, meanwhile, put on multiple base runners just twice against Price, both times with two outs, and he got Chase Headley on a fly ball to centre in the fourth before popping up Brendan Ryan to first in the seventh.

“I’m not a game plan guy,” said Price. “Game plan, that can change always pitch-to-pitch. I don’t watch video, I don’t go over the hitters with the catchers, I don’t go to pitchers’ meetings. I go out there and throw my game. And if that’s not working, then I’ll switch it up. I’m going to make those hitters adjust to me and if they don’t I expect to get good results.”

In his two starts so far, Price has certainly given them that, earning the appreciation of his new teammates.

Encarnacion spoke of how much he’s enjoying watching him pitch rather than facing him, while Smoak described the excitement of having pitching who can “give you seven, eight, nine innings of no-run baseball the majority of the time.”

Manager John Gibbons watched most of Price’s work from his office after an ejection in the middle of the third, but said trading zeroes with an opponent like Nova, “is what we envisioned in him when they pulled that trade off.”

“That’s what he does,” Gibbons continued, “every time he goes out there he’s got a chance to throw a shutout. You know he’s going to pitch deep in the game because he’s strong and he’s got that reputation, too, so he’s a little bit intimidating before you even start facing him.”

A Troy Tulowitzki solo shot in the seventh and Russell Martin infield RBI single in the eighth added on but the Blue Jays didn’t need the extra margin in this one, not with Price delivering exactly what the Blue Jays paid for.