BOSTON -- With Red Sox ace Chris Sale on the disabled list with shoulder inflammation for the second time in a month, David Price was asked Saturday night if he felt more pressure in Sale's absence.

"I'm making $32 million," Price said. "It don't matter. It don't change what I'm doing. I have enough pressure on me."

Price is actually only making $30 million of the seven-year, $217 million deal he signed with Boston, but the point remains. With a financial commitment like that, he better perform for the Red Sox.

And he has recently, posting a 1.55 ERA in five starts since the All-Star break and posting a stretch of six good outings, dating back to early July. His seven-inning, two-run performance against the Rays in a 5-2 win Saturday night was the latest example.

Price vowed to go back to the drawing board after his disastrous start July 2 at Yankee Stadium and it looks like he has. He's had hitters consistently off-balance in this six-start stretch, citing a better pitch mix as a major factor.

"It makes it a lot easier to go out there and execute pitches knowing you have your full repertoire and you've used that and proved it," Price said. "It's in the back of the hitters' minds. I got away from that, being one-dimensional and making pitches on one side of the plate. To go back out there and dominate the way that I have... it's been long overdue."

Price doesn't have to be an ace on a Red Sox staff that has Sale, the favorite to win the AL Cy Young award this season alongside former Cy Young winner Rick Porcello. But he'll be an extremely important contributor on a team that has aspirations of going deep in October.

"[I'm] getting back to myself," Price said. "I definitely changed a lot of stuff up here the first two and a half years. Just to be able to get back to being the pitcher that Boston signed, it's about time."