Showalter on Davis and 9-2 win

PITTSBURGH - Most of Orioles manager Buck Showalter's postgame comments to reporters tonight were related to first baseman Chris Davis, who hit three home runs and collected five RBIs in a 9-2 win over the Pirates. The questions kept pertaining to Davis. It was an obvious direction to steer the interview. "The thing I like is he's been playing good defense and you see him go down the line. He had a big night for us tonight. We all know he's capable of that, but not on that level. That's pretty special," Showalter said. "He certainly has the respect of everybody and I think it's obvious because of how he plays the game, whether he's doing certain things offensively that he spoiled us with last year. That's what I'm proud of from all our guys. Through thick and thin, they play both sides of the ball. It's not always going to be there and you're not going to be able to get some mistakes that you can create some problems with." Davis said he decided tonight to start fresh following yesterday's break in the schedule. "I think everybody's like that," Showalter said. "As you get more experience and mature, you start using off-days for what they are. You get to step back and look at things through realistic eyes and realize the sky's not always falling. Chris wants to be ... they want to be perfect and I think off-days remind you that it's just impossible with this many talented players that you're playing against." The offense has scored 15 runs in the past two games. It provided a nice cushion tonight for Miguel Gonzalez, who allowed two runs in six-plus innings and improved to 2-3 with a 4.53 ERA. "It's there," Showalter said, "but I was happy with Miguel (Gonzalez). I knew they hadn't seen him before and kind of slotted him right. I thought Miguel was sharp tonight, and I thought Caleb (Joseph) did a nice job with him. We were fortunate, too. They hit some balls hard that could have made those innings a lot different. "Jonathan (Schoop) played a great second base. I feel comfortable with him or (Ryan) Flaherty there. They've really got a nice rapport with J.J. (Hardy) and that's good to see." Brian Graham replaced Bobby Dickerson as third base coach and had two aggressive sends that paid off. "Brian did a great job," Showalter said. "We knew he would. This isn't his first rodeo. He's been doing this for a long time. And the good thing for us is we had two or three guys to pick from like that. We easily could have put Kirb (Wayne Kirby) over there, but Kirb I think is as good if not the best first base coach in baseball and I didn't want to take him away from that, because we do a lot of things through him. "You're talking about what-if players. Brian was our what-if third base coach." Tommy Hunter replaced Gonzalez and tossed a scoreless seventh after allowing back-to-back singles. Zach Britton gave up one hit and walked a batter in 1 2/3 innings, and Darren O'Day got the final two outs. O'Day struck out Jordy Mercer and hit Chris Stewart. "Tonight, I knew I was going to pitch Zach and Darren," Showalter said. "They had four days off and now you're reaching that point where it's detrimental not to pitch. I think you saw that a little bit with Darren and Zach today. We were fortunate to have a little cushion there. They were a little too strong. And you get a feel for these guys and they reach the point where they have to pitch, and tonight both of those guys were going to pitch regardless of the score. "It was the right situation (for Hunter) if you look at the lineup and the double switch and where the pitcher was hitting and whether this guy was going to be a one-inning pitcher. There are a lot of factors that go into play in the National League when you bring guys in, but the big thing is I wanted to get all three of those guys on the mound tonight regardless of what the score was."