Davis in the zone with 2-homer game
Orioles slugger swings at better pitches, and it shows
BALTIMORE -- Following Tuesday's loss, Chris Davis chided himself for swinging at balls outside of the zone and said one of the keys to getting the offense back on track was to be selective.
Davis heeded his own advice Wednesday night, connecting for a pair of homers to power the O's 5-4 win and a series victory over the Astros.
"Thought I did a better job of making an adjustment and making him throw it in the zone," Davis said of his approach off Astros starter Collin McHugh. "That's big not just for me, but for everyone in the lineup. I think the reputation on this team is out. A lot of teams are changing speed earlier in the count and trying to get us to chase."
Davis took McHugh deep for a two-run shot in the fourth inning and delivered the go-ahead blast off Astros reliever Tony Sipp in the eighth. It marked his first mutli-homer game of the year and could be enough to pull Davis out of a frustrating first two months and back on track at the plate.
Video: BAL@HOU: Davis reaches into stands to catch foul ball
"The reason why we talk about that, or you talk about it, is because of what he's done in the past and what his track record shows," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said of Davis' slow start. "You look at some of the ERAs of their bullpen and do it off Sipp, that's pretty hard to do. ... You had to earn everything."
Davis now has 10 homers and 26 RBIs on the season and he said that he's tried to stay positive and use at-bats like Tuesday's sacrifice fly as a jumping point. Getting a day off Monday didn't hurt, either.
"As a player I don't think you ever want a day off. You want to be in there every day, but sometimes you need it," he said. "Sometimes it's better for them just to tell you to take a day as opposed to asking you. So I think it was good. I definitely could have used the rest. It was good for me to kind of sit back and watch the game and take a day off mentally."