BALTIMORE -- Whether it be by trades or by injury, the Orioles of August 2018 remain a mere fragment of the roster they threw out on the first day of the season. Six recognizable faces have been dealt. Only one position from the outfield and two from the infield are the same as from Opening Day's walk-off win.
But through the turnover that has already occurred -- and despite the additional renovations imminent -- Chris Davis will remain on the Orioles' roster while the team refocuses and retools for competitiveness over the next three years. Davis won hearts with 53 home runs in 2013, making Tuesday's game-winning solo shot in a 6-3 win over the Mets at Camden Yards -- albeit exciting -- all the more pain-staking.
The Orioles owe Davis $17 million over the next four seasons, and plenty more in deferred payments until 2037. That kind of money has drawn the biggest cheers when he's on his game, but even larger boos when he's off.
"I think it's really about taking it one at-bat at a time. Not getting too high or too low. Not trying to hit a home run, but just going up there and trying to be a hitter," said Davis, whose 2018 average is an MLB-worst .162 among qualified hitters -- 38 percentage points lower than Joey Gallo of the Rangers. "I think it's too easy a lot of times to get caught up in the negative and sometimes even to get caught up in the positive and let your guard down. For me, I want to finish up strong. I want to work on some things and go into the offseason with a head of steam."
Ongoing struggles are what forced Davis to take an eight-game midseason mental reset sanctioned by his manager, Buck Showalter. Davis' skipper certainly knows what his former American League Most Valuable Player Award candidate is capable of, and that's what's made his 2018 so baffling, on top of frustrating.
"Nothing has really changed. The ballpark, the hitting coach, the competition, ballparks. Nothing has changed," Showalter said before Tuesday's win. "That's what's frustrating for all of us -- you can't identify that."
But Davis gave Orioles fans a glimpse of what he was once able to show on a nightly basis, a form he can hopefully regain for the remainder of 2018 and over the next four years. In doing so, Davis was able to secure a victory for Andrew Cashner, who had taken just three wins in 12 quality starts this season.

"Chris can carry a ballclub for a long time, so seeing him hit that homer tonight was definitely big," said Cashner, who pitched a full seven innings for the third time this season.
"Chris is a guy that can get going and really do a lot of damage for a club for an extended period of time," Showalter added. "Chris will tell you he'd like to have nights like this the rest of the way. And that's what he strives for. But you know how hard that is for anybody, especially a guy who can get real hot and do things like he did tonight."
Timothy Beckham and Adam Jones -- both of whom, unlike Davis, could be with another team next season -- added homers of their own for the Orioles.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Birds build on lead: Showalter said during the O's recent series against the Red Sox that Boston's ability to rack up late runs to demoralize the opponent reminded him of the 2014 American League Championship Series-bound Orioles team. Baltimore showed shades of that relentlesness Tuesday, with a seventh-inning rally capped off by a Renato Nunez RBI single in the seventh and Beckham's two-run shot in the eighth.

SOUND SMART
Davis and Jones homered in the same game for the 43rd time on Tuesday. The pair leads active duos in that category, with Michael Trout and Jose Pujols coming in second with 40.
YOU GOTTA SEE THIS
While a sixth-inning groundout from Michael Conforto had only a 10-percent hit probability per Statcast™, Jonathan Villar made it seem like that number was over 80. The recently acquired second baseman sprinted to a Conforto ball that got to the outfield and tumbled over as he made a stellar throw to first for the first out of the sixth inning.

"That was a tough play to get something on the throw," Showalter said. "He's got a good clock on the double play. He didn't have to hurry."
HE SAID IT
"I think we are just coming and playing baseball. We understand what the year has been and we are just still trying to make the best of it. We owe it to ourselves to come out and play every day hard and not just lay down from it. We have an obligation to ourselves, to our team, to the city, to the fans. We're going to come play hard. Sometimes the result is not what you want and it hasn't been a lot this year, but that's not going to stop the effort that we're going to bring." -- Jones
• O's to place Jones on bereavement list
UP NEXT
Dylan Bundy will look to get back on track when the O's close out a two-game series against the Mets at Camden Yards on Wednesday. Bundy, who's allowed the most home runs in the Majors (29), was roughed up last time out against the Red Sox for eight runs (seven earned) in five innings. The red-hot Zack Wheeler will start for the Mets, with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET.