BOSTON -- Red Sox lefty David Price was asked after his dominant start against the Astros on Friday why he thinks he has pitched so well at the end of the past two seasons.

"I don't know. I'm bad in October. So I don't know," Price replied.

Is he as bad in October as his stats suggest though?

The 99-win Red Sox clinched a playoff berth with a 7-2 win over the Blue Jays at Fenway Park on Tuesday. Price certainly understands how important it is to pitch well and win games this coming postseason.

"That's all that matters," Price told MassLive.com at Fenway Park on Tuesday.

Price is 0-8 with a 5.74 ERA (37 earned runs, 58 innings) in nine postseason starts, but his numbers are worse than he has pitched.

"It doesn't matter," Price said. "I haven't won a game. Out of the bullpen, it doesn't matter."

He has pitched well out of the bullpen with a 2.35 ERA in eight postseason appearances (15.1 innings, 4 earned runs). He also has two wins out of the pen. But it's not just his work as a reliever. He has proved he can perform as a starter in the playoffs despite the ugly 5.74 ERA and his winless record.

He knows it.

"I haven't thrown the ball as bad as it looks and as bad as it gets talked about," Price said. "I'm very aware of that. But I haven't won. So maybe this year I'll go out, go five and give up five runs and leave with the lead and win."

~ Price has pitched 6.2 or more innings in seven of his nine postseason starts.

~ He pitched 6 scoreless innings in Game 3 of the ALDS against the Rangers on Oct. 3, 2011 at Tampa Bay before giving up three runs in the seventh. Mike Napoli hit a two-run homer.

~ He allowed only two runs over 8 innings in Game 3 of the ALDS against the Orioles at Detroit on Oct. 5, 2014. Nelson Cruz belted a two-run homer in the sixth to break a scoreless tie. Price's Tigers lost 2-1.

~ Arguably Price's strangest postseason start came in Game 2 of the ALCS at Kansas City on Oct. 17, 2015, as a member of the Blue Jays.

The lefty retired 18 straight batters after giving up a leadoff single to Alcides Escobar in the bottom of the first inning. He struck out the side (Alex Gordon, Alex Rios, Escobar) in the sixth. He was dominating.

"And then the bottom of the seventh, pop-up to right," Price recalled. "Failed communication and it falls. And then they try and hit-and-run, I guess. Send runners in motion. It would have been a double play. Just a really good time to run and hit. And it just continued to snowball."

The Royals scored five runs on four singles and one double. Three of the hits were softly struck. Ben Zobrist's pop-up that dropped into right field went 86.2 mph.

Second baseman Ryan Goins called for it, but it landed between him and Jose Bautista.

Eric Hosmer's single traveled 81.0 mph and Mike Moustakas' single went 84.2 mph.

Price also tossed a complete-game victory in Game 163 against the Rangers in Texas on Sept. 30, 2013. He led the Rays 5-2 over the Rangers in the play-in game to decide the Wild Card winner.

Price admitted he has had some weird things happen during postseason starts.

"But I'm a firm believer that you create luck," he said. "So do a better job of that."

Price's postseason failures became a storyline, fair or unfair, before he signed with Boston. He answered questions about it during the 2015 postseason.

"Oh yeah," Price said, understanding it's not a Boston storyline.

What does he think the common denominator is from start to start and why a win has eluded him?

"I guess the big hit," Price said. "Big hit in Cleveland my first year here (Lonnie Chisenhall three-run homer). Nelson in Detroit. I guess more so not the big hit but that crooked number in an inning. Just staying away from that big inning. That's something that has gotten me in the playoffs. And that's just something I need to do a better job with."

He has allowed a surprising number of home runs in the postseason. He has given up 11 in his nine starts. Sixteen of the 38 earned runs (42 percent) he has allowed have come on home runs.

The seventh inning is the frame he has allowed the most runs (10). When told this, he said it's not because he has tired during starts.

"No," Price said. "I mean I don't have an answer for it. I wasn't aware of that (the 10 runs in the seventh innings). But I don't think about it. Hopefully, I get a chance to think about it this year going out there for the seventh inning and put up a zero."

He has dominated at the beginning of three postseason starts. So it doesn't appear he overhypes himself for starts. Some have theorized he pitches better as a reliever during the postseason because he never knows when he'll pitch. And so he doesn't overthink it.

"I don't feel different," Price said. "I mean, you probably feel better than you do the whole second half of the season or in August and September. That's the playoffs. It makes you feel like Opening Day again. That's what I kind of equate it to: It's Opening Day on steroids. Everybody has that revamped energy and everybody is extremely excited. Opening Day numbers, those are really good."

He knows he's more than capable. Perhaps 2018 will be his year.

"Just go out there and hope I give up 27 straight 110 exit velocities right at guys," Price said. "Twenty-seven straight outs. Perfect game. They'll say I'm the luckiest pitcher ever on the planet to throw a perfect game. And I'll take that."