Davies rewarded with win in 100th career start

PHOENIX -- For the 100th start of his Major League career, Brewers right-hander Zach Davies was in a familiar spot.

Not only was Davies delivering another strong outing for the Crew, but the 26-year-old was at Chase Field, a short 20-mile drive away from Mesquite High School in nearby Gilbert, Ariz., where he played before getting selected by the Orioles in the 2011 Draft to begin his pro career.

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Continuing his impressive season, Davies tossed seven innings of one-run ball and earned the win in the Brewers’ 5-1 victory over the D-backs in Thursday night’s series opener. With about 15 members of his friends and family in attendance -- and more expected to be at games this weekend -- the righty improved to 8-2 this season in his milestone outing.

“It’s fun to have those kinds of accomplishments,” said Davies, who was acquired by Milwaukee in 2015, prior to his MLB debut. “It’s cool to me being a part of one team the entire time, and to do it here in Arizona is really cool.”

Davies’ 2.79 ERA this year ranks sixth in the Majors and fourth in the National League. After a rough stretch in mid-to-late June, he has pitched well over his last four outings, posting a 0.77 ERA in 23 1/3 innings.

This was only the fourth time Davies has completed seven innings in a team-high 20 starts this season, and the first since June 2.

“I thought Zach was a little off the first couple innings with his command, balls and strikes were even,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “But he got sharper as the game went, started making pitches.”

Davies recorded no strikeouts for the first time this season, but he found other ways to work through a D-backs lineup that scored 19 runs on Wednesday. The right-hander scattered five hits, with his lone run allowed coming on a Jake Lamb RBI single in the second.

Of Davies’ 21 outs recorded, 13 came on balls in the air and eight on the ground, which included a pair of inning-ending double plays in the fourth and sixth.

“He hasn’t been striking guys out, but zero is a little different than [the] three or four that he’s been getting,” Counsell said. “It was a good night, he still threw the ball well. … I didn’t feel like there was a ton of hard contact. He stayed off the barrel, which is good to do.”

While the Brewers’ offense didn’t break through until the eighth -- Orlando Arcia’s go-ahead RBI single keyed a three-run rally -- Davies had help from his defense to keep the game tied at 1-1 for most of the night. Center fielder Lorenzo Cain had a home-run-robbing catch in the first, then an impressive over-the-shoulder catch that potentially saved a run in the seventh.

The Brewers’ rotation has had some inconsistency this season. But with Davies, they know they’ll usually get a solid outing, much like many of his first 100 starts. And that could be crucial as the Crew jockeys for position in the NL Central and Wild Card races down the stretch.

“He’s been very consistent all year, he’s been a huge part of this team,” Cain said. “He’s a mainstay in that starting rotation, so we need him to continue to go, continue to pitch great, and hopefully, we can just continue to get great outings out of him.”