Skip on Davis' debut: 'A lot of things went well'
Young righty fans 4, allows 4 runs over 3 frames in first MLB start
CINCINNATI -- With lots of family and friends gathered at Great American Ball Park from Sneads Ferry, N.C., Reds starting pitcher Rookie Davis would have loved a more momentous Major League debut then the one he turned in Thursday.
But Davis also kept his head up. After all, the Reds were 7-4 winners over the Phillies and claimed two of three games in the series. Cincinnati was trailing, 4-1, when the 23-year-old right-hander was pulled after three innings, but the lineup and bullpen picked him up.
"That's what it's about," Davis said. "I'll have the opportunity to do the same thing for them. Overall, the way that they stepped in and the way the team rallied was special for me in its own right for my debut. I think it was a great team win today."
Davis, the Reds' No. 17 prospect according to MLBPipeline.com, gave up four earned runs and five hits with two walks and four strikeouts. He surrendered two home runs -- both to Daniel Nava, who slugged a solo shot to right field on a 0-1 slider in the first inning and a two-run long ball to right field on a 1-2 changeup in the third.
"I knew the first one was [gone], but not necessarily the second one," Nava said. "But then I remembered the ballpark we were playing in, and obviously the ball flies pretty good here, so I didn't have to do as much as maybe some other parks."
Davis, who notched his first big league hit with a third-inning double on the first pitch, didn't plan on reading too much into his first start in the big leagues.
"Go ahead and get that first one out of the way," he said. "A couple of pitches beat me that game. Obviously the two home runs I gave up to Nava. I'll just look at video and continue to make better pitches."
Reds manager Bryan Price was pleased with Davis' overall approach.
"He attacked the zone," Price said. "He got hurt in those counts where he was ahead. ... His quality of pitches, when he's ahead in the count, will need to improve. ... There's a lot of things that went well here for Rookie. This is going to be a learning process, as it is for everybody."