After he had driven in four runs in the Orioles' 10-1 win over Oakland and homered for the third time in his last four games, first baseman Chris Davis said getting regular playing time has been a key to his good start for the club.
"It means a lot. I don't remember if it was 'Baseball Tonight' or 'SportsCenter,' but I heard some of the guys who have played talk about how big it is to know mentally that you are going to be in there every day," Davis said. "To know that they have confidence in you and that you're really part of the team and that they expect you to produce. This is a team with a lot of guys that can play a lot of different roles and to be one of the guys and be part of it is really special."
Davis went 3-for-4 to produce a season-high in hits and his four RBIs tied his career high. His solo homer in the seventh was a blast that carried onto Eutaw Street, the 59th in Camden Yards history to make it that far and the 25th hit by an Oriole.
"Yeah, I got it pretty good. In that situation I was looking for one pitch. That is the advantage of being ahead at that point of the game. I hit it really well. Was glad it stayed fair."
The Orioles used six singles and some aggressive baserunning to score five runs in the last of the second to gain control early on tonight.
"I love being aggressive on the bases. Anytime you can put pressure on the other team to make a play, they are playing into your hands," Davis said.
"It felt really good (to score 10 runs). Especially when your pitcher runs into trouble in the first inning then mows them down the rest of the game. It was good to give our bullpen a break. Nice to see the offense put some runs up."
Over his past four games, Davis is 6-for-13 with three homers and seven RBIs. On the year he is batting .313 with four homers and 11 RBIs.
Wei-Yin Chen needed 27 pitches to get through the first inning tonight but would up going seven innings, allowing just one run to improve to 2-0 with an ERA of 2.22 in four Orioles starts.
"I feel very thankful for the guys behind me," Chen said through his interpreter. "In the first couple of innings I couldn't find the strike zone. In the later innings, I felt like I got my tempo and timing.
"The first two innings I was trying to find where the strike zone was at. The third inning, I just let it go and pitched. I don't think that much, just get strike one first.
"I feel like I am improving every time and getting better and better. Really thankful to the coaches and teammates to support me."
Chen also stayed in the game after taking a shot to his midsection in the top of the fourth. The man on first base advanced to second as Chen picked up the ball to get the out at first.
"That should be a double play for me. It hit the lower ab. If I could catch, that would be a double play," he said.
By accepting you will be accessing a service provided by a third-party external to https://www.masnsports.com/