ANAHEIM — The ball was flying at Angel Stadium, and nobody capitalized like Henry Davis.
On a Friday evening when the Pirates and Angels mixed for eight homers, Davis offered two, taking Shohei Ohtani deep twice in Pittsburgh’s 8-5 loss. It was the primary profession multihomer sport for the rookie, who doubled his profession complete.
“We had good at-bats. Henry had great at-bats,” stated supervisor Derek Shelton. “I mean, we’re talking about one of, if not the best, pitcher in baseball, and I thought offensively, we did a really nice job against him.”
Ji Man Choi was the primary Pirates hitter to get to Ohtani, opening the scoring with a two-run shot within the fourth. Davis then made it back-to-back blasts, connecting with a 1-1 sweeper on the high of the zone and driving the ball a Statcast-projected 410 ft to heart discipline.
Davis struck once more within the sixth, this time pouncing on a first-pitch four-seamer and sending it over the right-center-field wall. Once once more, Statcast projected it at 410 ft.
“Everybody knows that he’s a really good hitter,” stated catcher Endy Rodríguez in English, earlier than switching to Spanish and talking by way of an interpreter. “… It felt like I was the one hitting the home runs [because] we’ve had a really good relationship since we met in the Minors. We have a really good relationship on the field and off the field, and I’m pretty happy for his success.”
With the second blast, Davis grew to become the one Major Leaguer to homer twice in a sport off Ohtani. Jack Suwinski additionally went yard versus Ohtani for his twentieth lengthy ball of the season; the Pirates’ 4 homers off Ohtani are essentially the most the two-way star has ever allowed in a sport.
Asked what helped him succeed in opposition to Ohtani, Davis was modest, merely saying, “I was just trying to be on time for the fastball and swing at good pitches to hit.”
Called up for his large league debut on June 19, Davis — the primary total choose in 2021 and the Pirates’ No. 2 prospect, per MLB Pipeline — has gotten off to a powerful begin, batting .275 with a .762 OPS in 26 video games coming into the evening. Friday marked Davis’ second three-hit sport within the Majors, as he additionally recorded a single within the second.
“He grinds through every at-bat,” stated Shelton. “There’s intent with every pitch, and I think that’s really rare with young hitters, and that’s a really positive sign. I mean, really good first impression in his first month.”
Just 23 years outdated, Davis figures to be a significant a part of the Pirates’ plans going ahead as a part of their youth motion. Primarily a catcher within the Minors, however having gotten most of his MLB taking part in time in proper discipline, Davis affords choices to a membership that’s trying to embrace versatility extra.
As is the case for nearly all rookies who get pleasure from early success, the league will certainly alter to Davis because it learns extra about him. But the Pirates aren’t involved about how that’ll impression him.
“I think the one thing we love about Henry is the way he prepares and the way he goes about it,” stated Shelton. “[The league is] going to punch, but he’s going to continue to go right after people.”
As for Davis’ ideas on the topic?
Content Source: www.mlb.com