LOS ANGELES — David Price surrendered a homer on the first pitch he offered in Game 5, a 402-foot dart by David Freese. That felt ominous, as if Price were about to succumb to the horrors of his postseasons past.

Except there are no longer disturbing omens this time of year for Price, just like the Curse is long gone and buried for the Red Sox.

Price completed a Boston journey from pariah to messiah, delivering the Red Sox a fourth title in 15 seasons. The guy who couldn’t win a postseason start won World Series Game 2, relieved in Game 3, warmed in Game 4 and authored a masterpiece in a clinching Game 5. He went from you don’t want him on the mound, to you can’t get enough of him; from toasted in Boston to the toast of the town.

“He made all the haters this time be quiet,” J.D. Martinez said, putting a single finger to his lips to signify “be quiet.”

But by the end, this was about noise. Lots of it. When Price left the field about 40 minutes after his seven genius innings and Boston’s 5-1 victory over Los Angeles, a few thousand Boston fans who had congregated beyond the visiting dugout at Dodger Stadium chanted his name and screamed their pleasure and Price attempted to heave his cap into the stands. It fell short. That and the pitch to Freese accounted for his failures.

Price, working on three days’ rest in place of ailing ace Chris Sale, never gave up another run over seven innings. He went from 0-9 with a 6.16 ERA as a postseason starter to winning the ALCS clincher and two World Series games by allowing three runs in 19 innings. He went from being viewed as a $217 million bust discomfited with all that came with being a Red Sox to “showing up when it freaking counted,” Boston reliever Joe Kelly said. “He carried the flag for us.”

The Dodgers won just once in this series and it took them 18 innings and 7 hours, 20 minutes to do so in Game 3. Boston responded in Game 4 by rallying from 4-0 down and riding Price in Game 5 to assure Los Angeles would remain titleless for a 30th straight year. If the Yankees could take any solace in a Red Sox championship it is knowing that the Dodgers again showed how hard it is to win it all even with massive resources.

Of course, the Yankees can’t really take much solace. The Curse is so 20th Century. This is four titles to one for Boston over New York since 2004 — the same score as this World Series, four games to one. By the end, “Yankees suck” chants echoed at Dodger Stadium from invading Red Sox fans, who lambasted their rival and celebrated brilliance.

The Red Sox were the dominant team of this season, accumulating 108 regular-season victories, eliminating two 100-win clubs (Yankees, Astros) to capture the AL title and beating the two-time defending NL champs to earn a victory dance on the Dodger Stadium field. Their final tally of 119 victories is topped among champions only by the 125-win 1998 Yankees.

“We are one of the greatest in history and now we have that bond forever,” Kelly said.

They won a series in which their two best hitters, Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez, were mostly neutralized until homering in Game 5. Sale threw four innings in Game 1 and did not emerge again until getting the final three outs of this series. And at a time when using a whole roster has never meant more, the Red Sox essentially played one man short, so slim was the faith in lefty Drew Pomeranz.

Yet, Boston prospered handily because relievers such as Matt Barnes and Kelly were terrific and because two in-season trades that hardly rocked the sport — the acquisitions of Eovaldi and Series MVP Steve Pearce — provided impact way beyond expectations.

And finally there was a payoff from Price, who in December 2015 topped Clayton Kershaw ($215 million) for largest contract ever for a pitcher and on Sunday outdid Kershaw on the mound. In between, Price too often provided bad pitching, health and behavior. To all appearances he hated the city and — no guesswork — Boston despised him.

But this season Price seemed to find peace of purpose and a cutter/changeup combination and in the aftermath to a title fellow starter Rick Porcello said, “To do what he did, on this stage, as big as it gets, I’m speechless.”

The Red Sox fans weren’t. They loudly celebrated another Boston title and an October hero named David Price.