Orioles first baseman Chris Davis has always run hot and cold, but as he's mired in another slump at the plate, it seems like this season his peaks and valleys have been higher and lower than usual.
Now, Davis finds himself in one of the lows. His frustration was evident this weekend at Camden Yards as he went 0-for-11 with six strikeouts, and his series ended with a humiliating moment when he thought he drew a walk on ball three in the eighth inning, and third baseman Manny Machado was picked off first because of it.
That's part of a larger slump since the All-Star break that has seen Davis go 2-for-24 in seven games, with a couple days out of the lineup due to illness. He homered in the final game before the All-Star break against the Los Angeles Angels, but hasn't since, with nine hits in 17 games this month with an average of .150.
The beginning of the month, however, was part of one of several stretches where Davis couldn't stop hitting home runs. He had five in seven games from June 25 to July 2, a span that brought him over 20 for the season and saw him collect 11 hits.
Last month also included a five-game stretch from June 7-12 where Davis homered in every game, kicking off a three-week span that saw him drag his batting average up from .213 to .248. His average was that low to begin with, however, because May wasn't the best month for Davis. He had seven home runs and 17 RBIs entering the month, but his totals after May were just 10 and 28 after one of his longer droughts of the year.
Davis had a 12-game home run drought and general slump from May 21 to June 2 in which he had six hits total and struck out 20 times — this stretch, you may remember, included the lowly sweep at Houston where the Orioles struck out more times in a three-game series than any team in baseball history.
He finally broke his home run duck against the Yankees at home, and it was only a matter of days before he went on the first of his big tears this season.
On the whole, Davis is batting .226/.338/.471 with 22 home runs and 59 RBIs. He wasn't far ahead of this pace at this point last season, with 24 home runs through 97 games en route to a league-leading 47 home runs.
In the past, Davis has acknowledged that it's just one or two swings that put a player like him in the groove required to go on a gaudy home run streak. He's emboldened by the fact that it won't take long, and it always seems to happen when things look bleakest.
This weekend, even though the team found success and Davis keyed the Orioles' win Saturday by hustling out a ground ball and avoiding a double play, things seemed to be getting to him. If past performance is any indication, a home run or two may be just around the corner.