Wrapping up reception for Davis, O's pitching and 8-4 loss

The cheering that accompanied Chris Davis down the orange carpet this afternoon in the Orioles' home opener had the same lasting power as a bubble blown through a wand.

Fans lost patience again with the first strikeout and vented harder with the next two. They cheered his replacement, Hanser Alberto, who pinch-hit in the eighth inning in an 8-4 loss to the Yankees.

The bubble burst.

Alberto's single only sharpened the criticism toward Davis, who's 0-for-17 with four walks and 11 strikeouts.

"I get all sides of it," said Alex Cobb, who allowed two solo home runs over 5 2/3 innings in his season debut. "Chris works really hard. He's a great guy. I mean, he really is. He's one of the better teammates that I've had in my time in the big leagues, and I know he cares so much. To feel that in front of your home fans, I mean, I can't even imagine.

"I do feel for him. I understand the fans' frustration as well, but nobody's got a better outlook. I don't know how I'd be able to handle it. He comes in and is a great teammate every single day and is happy. I know that he's dealing with a lot with that, but he comes in and is a good teammate to everybody and is a good friend to everybody, so he knows that he's got to work to get that back from a fan standpoint, but I enjoy being around him every day."

Davis didn't anticipate such a harsh reception.

"I mean, it's not something that I was really expecting, but it was tough," he said. "At the same time, I heard it a lot last year, and rightfully so. I've said it before, I'll say it again, I understand the frustration. Nobody's more frustrated than I am, especially a day like today, the kind of game that we were having. Really had them on their heels the whole game and it was a frustrating day for me personally and the team collectively. But you've got to move on."

He'd love to do the same from a 2018 season that might be the worst in baseball history, but the reminders keep coming at him as if fired from a pitching machine.

"It makes it a little tougher, especially having to hear about it all the time," he said. "That was really my main goal going into spring training was really to turn the page and just focus on what lied ahead and try to forget about what had happened last year. It's been tougher to start the season, but there's a lot of baseball left to play. I'd be foolish if I just started wallowing in my own self-pity and feeling sorry for myself.

"I don't think anybody's feeling sorry for me right now. I think people are ready to see me turn it around, and I'm ready to turn it around."

Manager Brandon Hyde is seeking the most advantageous spots for Davis, anything that might increase his chances for success and perhaps get him on a roll. He doesn't have a hit since Sept. 14, 2018, going 0-for-18 to close the season.

The attempts will continue after Friday's off-day, though Davis could sit against Yankees left-hander J.A. Happ.

"I'm seeing a guy that is giving a great effort. It's just not happening right now," Hyde said.

"We wanted to get him off to a good start. It's not the start I'm sure he wanted to get off to, but I'm going to continue to play him and I'm going to continue to support him and find the right matchups for him to try to get him off the schneid here a little bit early. But he's battling and being a great teammate and not taking his offense to his defense.

"I have a lot of conversations with him. We talk regularly. That stuff happens during the game. I haven't been around here, so I wasn't aware of fan reaction. I'm not really concerned about it. I'm going to support the guys on the club. It is what it is.

"I'm going to continue to stay positive with him and continue to support him, as well as the whole coaching staff. We're there for him and we're working as hard as we can to get off to the best start he can."

Said Davis: "I would expect my manager to be behind me no matter who it was. Obviously, I'm going to be here for the foreseeable future, and I'm a guy that's been here for a while. So I know Brandon is behind me, I know the whole coaching staff, I know my teammates are behind me. At the end of the day, that's all that really matters."

Reliever Mike Wright needed the same support after giving up Gleyber Torres' three-run homer in the sixth that turned a 4-2 lead into a 5-4 deficit. Wright replaced Cobb, allowed two soft singles and failed to locate a 95 mph fastball for Torres' second home run of the day.

"I tried to go down and away three times and I missed up and in to the same spot three times in a row," he said.

"It seems like the same song and dance even though it's a different year, a different vibe. Obviously, I feel way better, and just one pitch makes it seem like it's the same old Mike Wright. I mean, I still feel confident, still feel good. I'm excited about this team. Definitely excited to move forward."

"He had Gleyber 0-2 and tried to elevate and just didn't get it up enough," Hyde said. "It was pretty much the same pitch he swung and missed at 0-1, 94 about at the belt. He tried to go up there a little higher and kind of left it in the same spot. Gleyber can hit a heater. Always has.

"Just an unfortunate way that that inning ended."

Hyde lifted Cobb with two outs in the sixth inning after 87 pitches. Gary Sánchez's home run ended his day.

It got a lot worse from the dugout.

"Have to be happy with the amount of quality pitches I threw," Cobb said. "I felt like I was on the attack more often than not. It's something I'm trying to feel like I'm doing out there. A lot of times last year I felt like I was on the defense. I want to go out there and attack hitters more.

"It was unfortunate the way it unfolded, but as a group, as a team, we're going to have to learn how to take away positives every day. I think everybody can go home and point out what they did wrong, but try to build off what they did right today.

"I think that last home run probably hurts a little bit, but it was an executed pitch. It was up a little bit higher than I probably, looking back on it, would have wanted, but I think I had him more set up to go in there and I should have probably done that. Those are things that you're going to have those reactions and those visions a lot more sharper as the season goes on, so I'm not going to dwell too much on that one pitch. He's a good hitter and he hit a good pitch out of the ballpark."

Asked how much he had left in the tank as Hyde approached the mound, Cobb replied, "That's a hard question to answer. I couldn't even make up an answer for you.

"I think Hyder did the right thing there. Coming off a little injury from spring training I never really got built up too much past five innings the entire spring, so I think he's looking out for the well-being of my whole season, not just solely focused on today's game."

The splitter was a big swing-and-miss pitch for Cobb, though Torres homered off it in the third.

"I really liked it when I executed it," he said. "There were times where it wasn't executed very well and I got hurt by it. The one Gleyber hit out was a split that didn't have any action to it, so my goal is to minimize those types of pitches. But the good ones I was really happy with."

Cobb's groin injury robbed him of the opening day start in New York, but he savored today's assignment.

"It was fun," said Cobb, who received a mound visit from pitching coach Doug Brocail and assistant athletic trainer Patrick Wesley in the fifth because Hyde was concerned with his expression after stretching on the mound.

"You really just cherish any time you can go out into a big league game and there's that type of atmosphere. Obviously, our goal is to get that type of atmosphere in the playoffs and in September when you're chasing that playoff spot, but you learn from it because there's a little more adrenaline added to it.

"You have to know how to handle those situations. It was a lot of fun, I enjoyed it. The crowd was great. They cheered us a lot, and I wish we could have given them a victory to go home to."

Everyone was cheered as they ran down the orange carpet during introductions. No one fell.

The collapse happened later.

"It's a lot longer than it looks," Hyde said. "It continues, especially if you go to give five to your teammates and then the coaches, you have to make the left turn and go all the way around.

"It was very, very special. The crowd reaction was phenomenal. It was everything I hoped it to be, and this was great energy in the ballpark today. Loved it, loved how the fans came out and were loud. I just thought it was a great environment today."