PIRATES

Right off the bat, it was obvious that Henry Davis knew this one was gone: 

That's a 1-1 cutter from Trent Thornton that Davis didn't miss, sending it into the seats in left field for what ended up making the difference in the Pirates' 2-1 win over the Cubs, losers of nine straight games, here today at PNC Park. 

The homer was the fourth of the year for Davis, who has continued to search desperately for results at the plate. He's now hitting just .144 with a .534 OPS that would rank among the lowest in Major League Baseball if eligible. But, process-wise, Davis said he thinks he's having the best month he's had in the big leagues. 

“It’s super frustrating to not have the results that I thought would line up with those over the course of time," said Davis, who has hit balls with a higher average exit velocity (90.4 mph; 70th percentile) and has struck out less (18.1%; 70th percentile) this season. "Just trying to stay diligent, work hard and be prepared. ... Obviously, there’s certain things in your control and out of your control as a hitter. For me, coming into the year, I wanted to hit the ball harder. I wanted to strike out less, take more walks. I felt like I didn’t necessarily do that the first month. It was a little bit better but this month, the quality of contact, taking walks, not striking out a lot and hitting the ball harder and barrel rate, etc. Just hasn’t turned into results necessarily. I’ve hit some balls well that have been caught. I’m just keeping my head down and working as hard as I can every day.”