ATLANTA -- At last, David Price Day was a joyous occasion for the Boston Red Sox.

Five nights after setting off a few alarms at Fenway Park with one of the worst starts of his career, Price put forth one of the most dominant here Tuesday night. He overcame a shaky first inning to become the first Red Sox pitcher this season to complete the eighth, and matched his career high with 14 strikeouts in an 11-4 dismantling of the hapless Atlanta Braves.

It marked the Red Sox's third consecutive victory and the Braves' seventh straight defeat, with the teams set to continue their home-and-home interleague series Wednesday night in Boston.

And though it hardly takes a Cy Young Award winner to mute an Atlanta offense that has produced only three homers, none since April 10, this was still a significant outing for Price, who needed a bounceback start as much as any ace in the first month of a season.

"I needed it," Price said. "That was good. To go out there and to throw the baseball the way that I know I'm capable of throwing it, everybody wants that. I want to go out there and I want to be able to pitch as deep as I can into baseball games. Twenty-four outs, I like that."

At first, it wasn't pretty. Staked to a 3-0 lead on Travis Shaw's three-run homer off Braves starter Matt Wisler, Price gave up back-to-back-to-back two-out singles and a walk in a 23-pitch first inning. Considering he blew big leads against the Baltimore Orioles on April 11 and the Tampa Bay Rays this past Thursday, it had a here-we-go-again feeling to it.

But before amateur pitching coaches throughout New England could offer their long-distance diagnosis about what might be ailing Price, he struck out six of the next nine batters to serve notice that everything was just fine.

"That's as crisp and as sharp as we've seen David this year," manager John Farrell said. "When he came back out for the second [inning], he was much more assertive. There was much more crispness, power, execution. Very good through the eight innings."

There was a minor hiccup in the fourth, when Price gave up two singles, a walk and a hard-hit sacrifice fly by Wisler. But from there, he was nearly untouchable, aggressively attacking the Braves with a fastball that touched 95 mph and averaged 93.

Price blazed through Daniel Castro, Adonis Garcia and cleanup-hitting Freddie Freeman on seven pitches in the fifth inning, froze Jeff Francoeur and Tyler Flowers on 92-mph fastballs to open the sixth, and caught Castro and Garcia looking at heaters to end the seventh, at which point he had thrown 99 pitches with plenty left in the tank.

Not only did Price start the eighth inning, territory not yet seen by a Red Sox starting pitcher, but he finished it with a flourish, striking out Freeman, Francoeur and Flowers. The 14 strikeouts tied his career high from Aug. 28, 2011, when he overpowered the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Red Sox tacked on five runs in the top of the ninth to complete the rout, but with their $217 million ace pitching the way he did, they didn't need it.

At last.