Chris Davis on first homer and the team's early struggles on offense

By Steve Melewski

Orioles

April 14, 2014, 1:25pm

Comments

It might have been a bit of a footnote in a game where the Orioles were blown out and Ubaldo Jimenez did not pitch well again Sunday, but Chris Davis did get into the homer column.

Last season Davis hit nine homers in April on his way to 37 by the all-star break and to a club-record 53 for the season.

The longest Davis went at any point last season without a home run was 10 games and this year his drought reached 11 games until he connected in the eighth inning Sunday.

I asked Davis how he looks at his homer total and how much he analyzes that number when he evaluates his overall game.

"I think it's more important to drive in runs," he said. "No one is going up there swinging for the fences. Our approach has always been to pass the baton. We talk about over and over not trying to do too much and stay within yourself. Sometimes that is easier said than done."

Right now, much of this team is looking to get its bats going. The Orioles are hitting .256 as a team and, believe it or not, that is third-best in the American League, where the team average is .243 right now. But the club ranks only eighth in the AL in runs, 10th in OPS and 13th in OBP.

The Orioles scored just five runs, hit only .204 as a team and went 3-for-20 with runners in scoring position over the weekend against Toronto.

"I think we're all trying to find it right now," Davis said. "We haven't been swinging the bats that bad. Hit some hard. But we have to put up more runs early for our starting pitchers."