How much will one swing mean for Chris Davis? (Harvey and Alvarez make Futures Game)

Can one swing turn around a player's season? I guess we are going to find out after Chris Davis' pinch-hit, walk-off homer in the ninth Monday that lifted the Orioles to a 6-4 win over the White Sox. With Toronto's win over New York, the Orioles moved ahead of the Yankees into sole possession of second place and remained 1 1/2 games back of Toronto for the division's top spot. I had a perfectly fine game story ready to go last night. All I needed to do was hit publish when the third out was made. It was going to focus on the Orioles missed chances in the third through the fifth innings. How they missed a chance to pin a loss on Chicago when their ace got the start. Except they didn't miss all their opportunities. And Davis didn't miss a 3-2 pitch to win the game. And the Orioles now have won back-to-back games when Masahiro Tanaka and Chris Sale started against them. Talk about a great storyline. Struggling hitter. Pinch-hit chance. A chance to end a game of missed chances by not missing one. I never got the chance to hit publish. At least not with that first version of the game story. Re-write. Here is a look at Davis' stats through June 23 the past two seasons: Davis in 2014: .219/13/40 with .438 slugging and .768 OPS Davis in 2013: .339/27/70 with .723 slugging and 1.130 OPS. That homer should at least give Davis a chance to catch his breath, and must have felt like a couple of hundred pounds worth of expectations were removed from his back. His home run stroke is too good to give up on. And it is coming back. After Davis hit just seven homers in 39 games during the season's first two months, he has now hit six homers in 20 June games. That is a 48-homer pace for an entire season. That was Davis' 13th homer in the Orioles 75th team game. That is a pace for 28 for the season. So 30-40 is still very much possible for Davis in 2014. Usually when Davis is truly locked in, he'll start hitting homers to left center and center field. It is something to watch for over the next few games. Last night's win, which came after all those missed chances during the first eight innings, has the Orioles now five games over the .500 mark at 40-35. A win tonight and they'd tie their high water mark of this season which is six games over when they were 20-14. The Orioles snatched victory from defeat last night to win for the fifth time in six games and eighth in the past 12 games. They looked poise to go on a longer run. With one swing last night Davis did a lot of good for himself and his team. Harvey and Alvarez named to Futures Game: Right-hander Hunter Harvey, the Orioles' 2013 first-round pick, has been to the Team USA roster for the All-Star Futures Game. Harvey, who just pitched in the South Atlantic League All-Star Game, is 4-4 with a 2.98 ERA over 13 starts for Single-A Delmarva. Double-A Bowie's Dariel Alvarez was named to the World Team roster. In 73 games for Bowie, Alvarez is batting .308 with 19 doubles, a triple, 12 homers, 57 RBIs and a .829 OPS.