Watching a Red Sox-Yankees game this past weekend, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Here was a pitcher the Red Sox were paying $31 million a year for seven years, and David Price had thrown 104 pitches and had not made it to the end of the fifth innings. Manager John Farrell had seen enough and yanked Price from the game.

Less than 24 hours later Edinson Volquez of Kansas City threw one more pitch than Price while securing one less out. The Royals are paying Volquez a mere $10 million a year for two years.

The point is here we had two No. 1 starters, one of them one of the highest-paid players in the game, and they couldn’t get through five innings with 100 pitches. But they aren’t alone.

According to Bob Waterman of Elias Sports Bureau, starting pitchers, had thrown 100 or more pitches in a start and had failed to complete five innings 19 times (through Wednesday’s games).

The 100-pitch count has become the industry standard for limitation on a starting pitcher’s outing. That limit has resulted from teams’ concerns that letting pitchers throw more pitches will lead to injuries.

The pitch count, however, has led to other developments. Because teams don’t expect starters to go very deep into games they have had to bolster their bullpens to make sure they are covered for post-starter innings.

The limit has also had an effect on starters’ mental approach to their starts. Knowing they aren’t expected to pitch eight or nine innings, even seven, they use up their quota of pitches in fewer innings than they would otherwise try to pitch. They see they have no reason to be economical with their pitches.

The New York Yankees epitomize the current thinking. Andrew Miller had a terrific season for the Yankees last season as their closer, and Dellin Betances was equally as awesome as the set-up reliever. But the Yankees figured if shortening games to seven innings was good, reducing them to six innings was even better.

They went out and acquired Aroldis Chapman, who was available because he faced suspension for violating MLB’s domestic violence rules and because he could be a free agent after this season.

Now all the Yankees need are a lead after six innings and starting pitchers who can get to the end of the sixth, and they’ll be unbeatable. In today’s game, I’m not sure which of those tasks is more easily attainable.

To the Yankees’ benefit, none of their starters is on the list of 18 pitchers who have thrown 100 or more pitches in a start but have been unable to get to the end of the fifth inning.

The Pittsburgh Pirates, on the other hand, have had four such outings, two by Gerrit Cole and one each by Juan Nicasio and Francisco Liriano.

Cole, who last year had a 19-8 record and 2.60 earned run average, got two outs in the fifth inning of each of those two starts but couldn’t get the third out either time. He left after throwing 100 pitches and 105.

Two days after Cole’s second abbreviated start, Nicasio left after throwing 102 pitches in 4 1/3 innings, doing the Pirates’ bullpen no favors. Two weeks earlier Liriano pitched 4 1/3 innings and threw 100 pitches.

One other pitcher joined Cole as repeat offenders with abbreviated starts. That would be Miami’s Jarred Cosart, who came up short twice in a 12-day, three-start span, throwing 101 pitches in 4 2/3 innings and 102 in 4 1/3.

In all 19 instances, the starters gained one or two outs in the fifth inning but did not complete the fifth.

Two names stand out on the list – Justin Verlander of Detroit, who threw 111 pitches in 4 1/3 innings, and R.A. Dickey of Toronto, who four days later threw 106 pitches in 4 2/3. Both Verlander and Dickey are former Cy Young award winners, Dickey in 2012 and Verlander in 2011, when he was also named the American League most valuable player.

While Price is the most expensive pitcher on the list, Verlander isn’t far behind, receiving an annual average of $25.7 million to pitch more than 4 1/3 innings.

With Price and Verlander, the list of 19 contains one oddity. In seven starts each this season, Price has a 4-1 record and 6.75 e.r.a. and Verlander has a 2-3 record and 5.40 e.r.a. Obviously, their abbreviated outings contributed to their uncharacteristic records.

Drew Pomeranz of San Diego and Danny Salazar of Cleveland show a different story. Each had a start in which he threw 101 pitches, Pomeranz lasting 4 1/3 innings, Salazar 4 2/3. Yet in 7 starts each, Pomeranz has a 4-3 record and 1.80 e.r.a. and Salazar has a 3-2 record and a 1.90 e.r.a.

Between the two of them, Pomeranz and Salazar won’t earn $2 million this year. In spite of the lower pay and the lower earned run averages, it’s highly unlikely that a major league team with 2016 post-season aspirations would opt for Pomeranz and Salazar over Price and Verlander.

Looking at their payrolls and to the future, though, the younger, cheaper guys could be more appealing. Whoever they are, though, if they are going to help somebody win eventually, it would help if they learned to throw strikes and become more economical with their pitches.

While they pamper their pitches, teams could help themselves by figuring out how to get more out of their starters than a dozen or so outs.