Price on Blue Jays debut: 'I've never experienced anything like that'

David Price pitched in the World Series as a rookie in 2008. Two years later, he pitched in the All-Star Game, his first of three outings in the Midsummer Classic.

Neither of those experiences compare to Monday afternoon at Rogers Centre, where the left-hander hurled eight masterful innings in his debut with the Toronto Blue Jays, lifting his new team to a 5-1 win over the Minnesota Twins before a sellout crowd.

"I've pitched in quite a few big games," Price told reporters. "But that atmosphere today - that takes the cake. I've never experienced anything like that. That was cool."

(Courtesy: MLB.com)

Acquired Friday as part of a trade-deadline coup by general manager Alex Anthopoulos, Price allowed just one run while recording 11 strikeouts, becoming the first pitcher to record double-digit strikeouts in his Blue Jays debut while falling one shy of his season high.

Price, who retired the last 15 batters he faced, needed 119 pitches - his second-highest total of the season - to navigate eight frames. Despite never working with him before, Price said Monday's collaboration with catcher Russell Martin went "as smooth as it could have."

When Price tipped his cap after recording the final out of the eighth inning, saluting the delirious 45,766 fans in attendance, nobody was more thrilled than the Twins.

"He kind of abused us a little bit," said Torii Hunter, whose second-inning solo shot accounted for Minnesota's lone run.