Davis With 3 Home Runs as Orioles Rout Pirates, Regain First Place in AL East

BALTIMORE, Maryland May 21, 2014 - Happy Days are here again! In Baltimore, that is, where baseball fans woke up for the first time this season after an Oriole game in which historic slugger Chris Davis had multiple homeruns. Nicknamed "Crush," Davis led all of baseball in 2013 with 53 'dingers." But before last night, 2014 has not been good to Davis. He has spent time on the Disabled List. He has hit only three home runs and knocked in only 15. Sunday he had a particularly frustrating day, he told reporters after the game, getting several pitches he knew he could hit, but not hitting them. He said he decided during Monday's day off to just start the season over. On Tuesday, he was at the ballpark early for extra batting practice. If it is this easy to put bad times behind you, Davis isn't just a great power hitter, he is a genius. Because last night he doubled his home run total and increased his RBI total to 20. And, by the way, the hammered the Pirates, 9-2. Because the Cubs whacked the Yankees at Wrigley yesterday, 6-1, the Birds have retaken first place in the AL East by one-half game. The up-to-the-minute AL East Standings are below.

Davis went four for five, and besides the three homers and five RBI, he also scored four runs and racked up 13 total bases. Nelson Cruz, who has literally filled in for Davis as the Oriole power source early on, also got into the act before over 22,000 fans in Pittsburgh. He followed Davis' first homer in the fifth inning with a long bomb of his own, his 13th on the season and his 38th RBI. Other Oriole RBI came from Adam Jones, J.J. Hardy and Caleb Joseph. Jones and Hardy were the other Orioles, besides Davis, with multiple hits. Miguel Gonzalez was the beneficiary of the Birds' offensive explosion, winning his second game against three losses. He pitched into the seventh inning, giving up two runs and seven hits, and striking out seven Pirates. He was followed by Tommy Hunter, who pitched a scoreless inning, surrendering two hits, Zach Britton, who went one and one-third innings, giving up one hit and one walk, and Darren O'Day, who got the final two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but did not get credit for a save because Baltimore was much too far ahead. After the game, the pitchers' ERA looked like this: Gonzalez, 4.53; Hunter, 6.06, Britton, 0.76; and O'Day, 0.52.

The second game of the two-game series is tonight, when Chris Tillman, 4-2, 3.54 ERA, pitches against the Pirates Wandy Rodriguez, 0-2, 6.64. Rodriguez made his first start after a stint on the DL last Thursday, going five innings and giving up two earned runs. Gametime is 7:05 pm.

American League Eastern Division Standings
1. Baltimore Orioles: 23 wins, 20 losses, .535 pct
2. New York Yankees: 23 wins, 21 losses, .523 pct, 0.5 game behind
3. Toronto Blue Jays: 24 wins, 22 losses, .522 pct, 0.5 game behind
4. Boston Red Sox: 20 wins, 24 losses, .455 pct, 3.5 games behind
5. Tampa Bay Rays: 19 wins, 27 losses, .413 pct, 5.5 games behind