Zach Davies Struggles Again in Loss to Giants

A five run Giants fifth inning leads to an 8-5 Diamondbacks loss

Zach Davies gave up six runs in four innings and Joe Mantiply had another rough relief outing as the Giants defeated the Diamondbacks 8-5 in San Francisco tonight. It was the third straight bad outing by the veteran right-hander, leaving the team seemingly no answers at the back of the rotation.

Box Score

Davies got through his first two innings unscathed. He allowed a hit to leadoff hitter LaMonte Wade Jr, but he was doubled off on a 4-6-3 double play.  He issued back to back two out walks in the second, but a sharp line out to center by Isan Diaz got him out of it.  

In the top of the second Evan Longoria stepped up to the plate against Giants starter Logan Webb to a warm welcome applause from the Giants fans. It was his first at bat in Oracle Park since leaving the Giants. He staked Davies to a 1-0 lead with a solo homer to center in his first at bat back at Oracle Park this season. 

🚨 LONGO BOMB 🚨 pic.twitter.com/alywg2gsvm

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) June 24, 2023

Davies could not hold the lead however.  Two quick flyouts to start the third inning were followed once again by a two-out walk. There would be no escape this time. A base hit by J.D. Davis and then back to back doubles by Michael Conforto and Blake Sabol plated three runs for the Giants. 

As they have so many times, the D-backs battled back. They scored one run  in the second on a Christian Walker base on balls, and a throwing error by catcher Patrick Bailey on a dribbler from Alek Thomas.  They scored two more in the fifth inning to take a 4-3 lead. A lead off base hit by Jake McCarthy got it started. Geraldo Perdomo hit a sharp ground ball off the first base bag that rolled in foul territory for a double. Ketel Marte singled and a force out by Carroll plated a run. 

Davies could not hold on to that good fortune. A leadoff walk to Lamont Wade Jr, a base hit by Joc Pederson and an RBI double from Davis chased Davies off the mound and out of the game. Joe Mantiply came in and immediately gave up Conforto's second two-run double of the game.  One out later he gave up a  homer to Bailey for two more runs and the Giants had a five run inning and an 8-4 lead. 

Davies final line was 4 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 4 BB, 2 K. His season ERA is now up to an unsightly 7.82, as his record falls to 1-4 in eight starts. 

Once again the D-backs tried to answer back. A one-out bloop double by Carroll and a bloop single by Walker gave the D-backs first and third. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. rolled into a 5-4 force , scoring Carroll for the D-backs fifth and final run.  Alek Thomas doubled, but Longoria struck out looking to end the threat. Camilo Doval shut down the D-backs in the 9th to pick up his 21st save and Logan Webb got his 7th victory going seven innings, giving up four runs, three earned. 

The Giants out hit the D-backs 12-8, and many of the D-backs hits were bloops and dribblers, while the Giants bombarded the D-backs pitching staff with hard contact all night. The Giants had 16 hard hit balls (over 95 MPH exit velocity), 10 of them coming against Davies. 

Torey Lovullo strained to see the positives. "I felt like Zach's stuff was better tonight then it was the previous two [games]. It's just about moving forward and taking steps in the right direction. I thought there was progress but I felt like there were a couple moments we all needed to be better."

Lovullo said that he thought the breaking ball looked better and the velocity separation between Davies fastball and changeup was better.  He also said that getting him right is important and he's an important piece of the rotation. There is no hint of Davies being removed from the rotation any time soon and he'll have to keep working closely with pitching coach Brent Strom.  

Davies spoke quietly about his search between starts for a fix and going through this slump. "It's probably the toughest three game stretch of my career. I've had tough stretches in the past where you believe in yourself and trust yourself and you come out of it."

Davies indicated he needs to be more aggressive in attacking hitters. He actually threw first pitch strikes to nine of the first twelve batters he faced, but issued four walks and had numerous non competitive missed too.  "I felt the stuff was better, I just lacked the control in a couple of innings. I ran into the same thing with [the giants] that I have the last couple of games where I can't really get guys to chase the pitches that I want to and then falling behind them."

Listen to both Lovullo and Davies down below:

The Diamondbacks record falls to 46-31 and the Giants improve to 43-33, and are now just 2.5 games back of Arizona.  Tomorrow's game starts at 1:05 PST, with Merrill Kelly getting the start for Arizona.  Right hand reliever Ryan Walker will kickoff a bullpen game for the Giants, who are without Alex Cobb due to injury.