It's hard to judge which was more mammoth, but between Chris Davis' second Eutaw Street home run in as many days and the towering fly ball he hit into the center field bleachers Thursday, the Orioles' streaky slugger gave as big of an indication as any that one of his prodigious home run streaks is coming.
On Wednesday, when his third home run in the last 29 games left the ballpark, Davis said afterward that he always feels like he's one swing away from going on one of his tears. He's been saying that all season, though, and earlier this month admitted it's really been a season-long swoon, not just a second half one.
Before Thursday's game, manager Buck Showalter said he always thinks his players are one swing, one game, one pitch away, but they need cooperation from the other team. Well, Houston cooperated, and Davis seems to be inching toward another big run.
Showalter doesn't think the Orioles' fortunes depend on that though — they've gotten this far without one, and he doesn't want to put the weight of their future on Davis' shoulders.
"We pride ourselves on not saying, 'Oh, if we lose this, we're not going to be able to survive,'" Showalter said. "If you look at [2014], Steve Pearce was the first baseman and Ryan Flaherty was at third base. We pride ourselves on that. If you start thinking the sky is falling if one person isn't there, including all of us. … Obviously, we know what that could mean, but the weight of the Orioles is not around Chris' shoulders. There's a lot of things that have to go well that would certainly help our chances, but we can still be the last team standing if it doesn't happen."
Davis has always been a player whose power has come in bunches. He now has 27 home runs on the season, with three coming in their last two games, five coming in a five-game span from June 7 through June 12, and five more in the seven games between June 25 and July 2.
Essentially, half of his 27 home runs have come over the course of 15 games. The remaining 14 have been spread out among 101 games for the Orioles' first baseman. It all makes for an uneven year, but one the Orioles hope will balance out positively over the final six weeks of the season, whether Showalter admits it or not.