Davies has shortest outing in Cubs' loss to Pirates
This goes without saying, but when a team is hitting .168 on the season, it can't afford an off-night from a starting pitcher.
That's what happened Saturday in Pittsburgh, though, as Zach Davies was roughed up for 7 runs in the second inning. He left the game and the Cubs were essentially done, losing 8-2 at PNC Park.
"These type of games happen," Davies said. "At least personally, they've happened before. It's one of those things where it definitely stinks while it happens. The next five, six days, you constantly think about these types of games. But tomorrow's a working day, the next day's a working day and every day after. My redemption is whenever my next start is."
Davies has given up 7 earned runs a couple other times in his career, once against the Cubs in 2019. But this was the first time in 125 career starts that he didn't get through the second inning.
Davies pitched a perfect first inning, then the trouble began with poor control. A walk, double and walk loaded the bases with nobody out. A 2-run single by Jacob Stallings put the Pirates up 2-1, but Davies retired the next two batters, so he was one out away from ending the inning with just 2 runs.
What followed, though, was a double by Adam Frazier, the inning's third walk, a ground-rule double by Bryan Reynolds and 2-run single from Colin Moran. Davies was out, replaced by Alec Mills.
"Looked like they were all over the off-speed stuff," manager David Ross said. "Anything up in the zone, they were all over it. Really good approach, stay up the middle, don't try to pull off."
Davies was stellar in the spring, with a 1.08 ERA in five starts, and won his season opener at Wrigley Field last week, also against the Pirates. So getting hit hard in the second inning was certainly unexpected.
"Sometimes you do need a kick in the butt to go through your routine and work a lot harder," Davies said. "Not saying that anybody, myself included, doesn't work hard in between starts. But sometimes a game like this can kind of motivate you. For me, tomorrow, the next day and every working in between, that's what I'll think about."
The Cubs have a repetitive schedule for the first two weeks of the season, so it was something of a disadvantage for Davies to face the Pirates twice in a row. He thought they did a better job of adjusting to him than he did of catching onto their game plan.
"You don't really want to go away from what your strengths are," Davies said about facing the same team twice within six days. "You don't really want to go away from what was successful in your previous start. But you also know a lineup like that will make the adjustments and they'll try to take an approach that matches what you did in the last start.
"Being able to recognize that quickly and being able to make your adjustments in a game will help you succeed at that. Tonight, that didn't happen. I tried to stay down and away, trying to stay away from hard contact. Their approach was completely the opposite of that, where they were looking for something in that zone where I typically pitch.
"They took advantage and they succeeded. It's a credit to them that they're a young ballclub that wants to study and wants to learn and get better as a team, and I didn't respond."
The Cubs (4-4) got on the board in the top of the first on an RBI double by Kris Bryant, then added a consolation run in the eighth on a run-scoring single by Joc Pederson. Former Pirates pitcher Trevor Williams is set to take the mound for the Cubs in Sunday's series finale.
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