Zach Davies needed only nine pitches to set down the Pirates in order in the first inning on Saturday night in Pittsburgh. The Cubs righty did the same in their last meeting en route to a win in his season debut.

That is where the similarities ended.

Facing the Pirates for the second time in the span of a week, Davies surrendered a seven spot in the second inning, paving the way for an 8-2 loss at PNC Park. It was an uncharacteristic night of command woes for the precision-based starter.

“It really got out of hand in that second,” Davies said. “That's something as a starting pitcher that you can't do -- put your team out of the game so much as I did.”

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After breezing through the first three batters in the opening frame, Davies toiled through 35 pitches before manager David Ross pulled the plug 10 batters into the second. For comparison, Davies needed just 37 pitches to work his first three innings against the Pirates on Sunday in Chicago.

The 1 2/3 innings logged by Davies represented a career low, coming under the 2 1/3 frames on April 17, 2016 (also in Pittsburgh). The seven runs allowed equaled the most yielded in one outing in his career.

When Bryan Reynolds slashed a Davies sinker deep to left-center for a two-run double in the second, that put the Cubs in a 5-1 hole and ended an impressive streak for the pitcher. Dating back to Aug. 31, 2019, Davies had allowed no more than three earned runs in 19 straight starts. That had been the longest active streak for a Major League starter.

“Anything up in the zone, it seemed like they were all over it,” Ross said of the Pirates. “Really good approach. Stayed up the middle, weren't trying to pull off.”

Acquired via trade from the Padres over the offseason, Davies made a strong first impression this spring with a 1.08 ERA in five Cactus League outings. With his sinker-changeup led arsenal, Davies continued that solid opening act with his win over Pittsburgh last weekend.

Davies held Pittsburgh to a 1-for-18 showing out of the gates in that Sunday performance. Dating back to that point, Pittsburgh's lineup has gone 8-for-13 with four walks and nine runs scored against the right-hander.

Davies said he plans on using the next few days to pore over video of this start, which he can compare to his initial outing against the same lineup.

“They were able to make adjustments to the way I pitched in the first game,” Davies said. “So, for me, it’s going back and seeing counts, seeing approaches, seeing the way guys take pitches off me, that's something that I'll study.”

Pirates starter Mitch Keller was in a similar situation, having faced the Cubs opposite Davies on Sunday. This time around, Keller lasted five solid innings, following a rocky three-inning showing last time out. 

“You have an idea of how guys are going to game plan and pitch you,” Ross said of a lineup seeing the same arm twice in a week. “You've got to be locked in, especially when you're a guy that relies on command and control.”

The Pirates loaded the bases to begin the second via two walks that bookended a double by Erik González. Davies went on to allow run-scoring hits to Jacob Stallings (RBI single), Adam Frazier (RBI double), Reynolds (two-run double) and Colin Moran (two-run single) before Ross made the slow walk to the mound.

In Sunday’s outing, Davies was able to lean heavily on his changeup (39 percent), keeping its usage just below his sinker (43 percent). This time around, as he struggled to get into advantage counts, Davies featured his sinker 55 percent of the time, compared to 34 percent for his changeup.

“I tried to stay down and away, was trying to stay away from harder contact,” Davies said. “Their approach was completely the opposite of that, where they were looking for something in that zone. That's where I typically pitch and they took advantage and they succeeded at that.

“That's a credit to them. They're a good ballclub. They're a young ballclub that wants to study and wants to learn and get better as a team. And I didn't respond to that.”

Not only was the outing out of character for Davies, who threw just 24 of his 44 pitches for strikes, but it did some damage to an overall solid performance by Chicago's rotation. With his abbreviated effort, the Cubs' starting staff saw its ERA jump to 4.81 from 3.35 through eight games.

“My redemption is whenever my next start is,” Davies said. “It's a tough game to sit on for the next few days, but personally, I've had them before and you know you can turn it around as fast as possible.”