Davis' HR powers O's in home finale

BALTIMORE -- Rounding the bases Sunday afternoon, Chris Davis allowed himself to wonder whether it would be the final time. So he slowed to savor it, screamed when rounding second in what he called a mix of “joy, satisfaction” and “just fired up.” He purposely paused before crossing home plate, glancing up to glimpse at an Oriole Park crowd entirely on its feet.

So went the cathartic, emotional scene at the center of Baltimore’s 2-1 win over the Mariners, when Davis capped what could’ve been his final home game as an Oriole in style. Starting for just the sixth time this month, Davis connected for a seventh-inning, go-ahead solo homer off Marco Gonzales that sealed an Orioles victory in their 2019 home finale.

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“It was cool to give [the fans] something to actually cheer for,” Davis said, still emotional in an upbeat postgame clubhouse. “There have been a lot of really tough nights where you’re back in the dugout with your bat after an at-bat, just feeling like I let my teammates down, letting the coaching staff down, letting the fans down.”

The result was a well-earned victory for John Means, who outdueled Gonzales in seven innings of one-run ball. And for Davis, a flashback to 2015. An impending free agent at the time, Davis homered twice in the Orioles’ final home game of that season not knowing what the offseason would bring.

“I remember right before I crossed home plate looking up into the stands thinking, ‘Is this the last time I’m going to be with this team?’” Davis said. “Today was kind of a similar thing.”

The circumstances though, of course, are different. Davis was 29 then, set to test the market having secured his second career home run title. He was one of baseball’s premier power hitters. Now he’s objectively among its worst, having hit .198/.293/.383 in four seasons since signing a seven-year, $161 million contract in January of 2016 to return to Baltimore.

Davis hit an all-time single-season low .168 in 2018, and is hitting just .176 with a .583 OPS in ‘19. Along the way, Davis endured a historic hitless streak, was involved in a dugout altercation with his manager and faded into a little-used reserve role by September.

Meanwhile, the Orioles have Trey Mancini and several other bat-first corner types on their roster, and are set to promote another in Ryan Mountcastle, their No. 4 prospect per MLB Pipeline, in 2020.

“It’s a really frustrating situation, and it’s one of the many things that we stepped into and inherited and are working on,” executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said before Sunday’s game. “He’s got a lot left on his contract. That’s the reality. And I don’t take that lightly, so we’re going to keep working with him.”

Asked if he expects Davis on the roster come Spring Training, Elias said simply: “Yes.”

It was with that as a backdrop that Brandon Hyde made a point to start Davis and Mark Trumbo for Sunday’s finale, citing what both veterans have accomplished with Baltimore over the years. Trumbo, whose contract expires next month, almost certainly won’t be retained.

And though the Orioles remain publicly supportive and committed to Davis, the subtext was clear: His long-term future with the organization is uncertain at best, despite the three years and $69 million remaining on his contract.

“Just how I drew it up,” Hyde said. “He’s had some tough moments, so for him to have a great moment, a really nice game-winning moment, I think that made him feel good, and that’s all I really care about. I want the guy to succeed. We all pull for him.”