Chris Davis slugged his way to another milestone Sunday, pulling his 100th career home run into the right field seats, but lost in the shuffle was another trend that shows how well the Orioles first baseman has been hitting this year.
The home run, which came against Boston's Jon Lester, was his sixth of the year against left-handed pitching. He hit seven all of last year off lefties.
Entering Sunday's game, Davis was batting .250 with 22 career home runs against lefties, compared to .275 with 77 home runs against right-handers. This year, he was hitting .275/.333/.513 against lefties. After going 2-for-4 on Sunday, those numbers are on the rise.
Increased success against southpaws has been part of the career year for Davis, who is now batting .335 with a major league-high 23 home runs and 60 RBIs and leading the All-Star voting at first base.
When the Orioles begin their three-game series in Detroit on Monday, though, Davis will be seeing a steady diet of right-handed pitching from starters Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and Rick Porcello. Entering Sunday, Davis was batting .359/.449.766 with 17 home runs and 41 RBIs against right-handers.
When the Orioles took two of three from the Tigers at the beginning of the month, Davis went 5-for-12 with one home run, one double and two RBIs.