Tweak helps Brewers starter Zach Davies get back on track

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Baseball players are generally creatures of habit, with starting pitchers relying on their routines more than most.

To disrupt that routine is generally considered bad, but Zach Davies came into his start Tuesday actually wanting to change his up.

Starting his game preparation earlier in order to finish earlier, the right-hander used his extra time to catch his breath and re-focus himself prior to taking the mound against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The results were solid. Davies scattered six hits, one run and two walks with two strikeouts over 6 ⅔ innings, getting himself back on track after a one-game hiccup in his previous start and the Milwaukee Brewers their third straight victory, 3-1, at Miller Park.

"He did things a little different today," manager Craig Counsell said. "He got ready early and had a little extra time, almost like it was a road game. He was trying to change something up.

"It's been early at home when he's gotten beat. I think the ground balls are key for him. When you're seeing ground balls, you're getting off-balance swings a little out front or beat with the fastball.

"That's a good sign for me, and he did a nice job of it."

Davies has indeed had issues in the opening frame this season. Coming into Tuesday, he'd logged a 7.12 ERA and opposing batters had hit him at a .320 clip in his previous 24 starts. Both numbers were the worst in any inning for him, with the second inning a close second.

In his previous start against the Minnesota Twins, Davies allowed three second-inning runs and three more in the third en route to arguably his worst outing of the season. And it was his last start against the Pirates at Miller Park on June 20 that he pitched his worst first inning, allowing six runs in an eventual 7-3 loss.

BOX SCORE: Brewers 3, Pirates 1

NOTES: Brewers try Jonathan Villar in center field

MLB: Live scoreboard, box scores, standings, schedules

He got off on a much stronger note in this one, recording five straight ground-ball outs and then fanning Adam Frazier for a scoreless first two frames.

Davies then worked around multiple baserunners in the third, fourth and fifth thanks to some strong defense from Eric Sogard, Neil Walker and Travis Shaw in particular before Pittsburgh finally scored on him in the sixth on Frazier's RBI triple to briefly pull even at 1-1.

That's when Walker again delivered defensively, this time smothering Jordy Mercer's ground ball toward the hole on the right side to keep the potential go-ahead run from scoring.

Davies' night ended in the seventh inning at 101 pitches, and Jared Hughes came on to get the final out to strand Starling Marte at second.

The Brewers grabbed the lead back in the bottom of the inning on Manny Piña's RBI infield single and stayed in front the rest of the way with Jacob Barnes and Corey Knebel combining on a scoreless final three innings to finish it out.

Davies earned the victory, improving to 14-4 overall while lowering his ERA to 4.26.

He said the tweak to his pre-game preparations helped set the stage for his performance by allowing him some extra time to focus and catch his breath – a somewhat different approach considering many players try to rev themselves up as much as possible before storming the field.

"Just getting ready earlier, getting a little bit of a break between warming up and the bullpen and going out on the mound – that’s really all it was," he said. "I think it gives you time to relax and settle in instead of going out there a little bit more on adrenaline, a little bit more energetic.

"Kind of just brings you back down. At least for me, a guy who’s a command guy and trying to spot it, that’s the biggest thing."

Counsell said Davies was back to looking more like the pitcher that had rattled off five wins in seven starts since July 1 rather than the one who struggled against the Twins.

"It was back to the good ones like we saw in that little stretch he was on," he said. "His good outings, to me, he keeps the hitter guessing. Any time, any count, the hitter can never get comfortable with the speed or a pitch that's coming.

"He did a nice job keeping them off balance. I thought we played really nice defense as well. It was a nice outing, for sure."

Also to no one's surprise, the Brewers and Pirates played yet another close game. It marked the seventh straight time a game had been decided by two or fewer runs between them. Milwaukee had been swept in four straight at PNC Park from July 17-20 opening what wound up being a disastrous 2-8 road trip.

Piña drove in the first two runs of the game for the Brewers, then former Pirate Keon Broxton applied the finishing touches with his 17th home run of the season in the seventh.

"These last three series in a row, we're playing tight games every single night," said Counsell. "It seems like every game is two runs, one run – they're evenly matched. It's a run-prevention game, keeping runs off the board.

"They've all been low-scoring games where defense matters. It puts pressure on the pitchers to make quality pitches, but they've been making quality pitches."

Added Davies: "Just a good battle. Both teams care about the game, both teams are in it to win it and it might be another rivalry within the division. Going forward it’s going to be tight throughout the rest of this race, so we’re going to go out there and try to win every inning."