J.D. Davis returned to the Mets starting lineup for the first time since coming off of the 60-day IL, and showed how valuable he is at the plate.
Davis launched a pair of two-run home runs on Saturday night in Pittsburgh. However, the Pirates scored nine runs in the final two innings, beating the Mets on a walk-off grand slam. After the game, Davis talked about the team’s mindset after the tough loss.
“The unique thing about baseball is we can come back tomorrow and play a game,” Davis said. “I think that’s where we’re at right now with the attitude, turn the page. Losing on a walk-off is a terrible feeling, but it’s only the second game of the second half. We gotta stay positive, we just have to turn the page and get after it tomorrow.”
Davis then talked about his performance, saying he tried to keep in simple and took advantage of pitches he knew he could hit.
“I just kept it simple,” Davis said. “Being in the four-spot, you gotta do some damage. I tried to do the simple things up there, being on time, setting up early. Swinging at pitches at which I can barrel and what I can handle. I think just keeping it simple like that was fine. At the end of the day, a loss is a loss and it’s a terrible feeling.”
Manager Luis Rojas spoke about Davis’ impact in the middle of the lineup.
“Same J.D., quality at-bats, looking for his pitch, finds his pitch, barrels it, he did an outstanding job,” Rojas said. “We need that offensive boost in the middle of out lineup, and he came in handed and bat cleanup.
“We moved Pete [Alonso] up to second, just so he’s behind [Brandon] Nimmo. Knowing Nimmo’s a guy who gets on base, and Pete will hit with some traffic. Having J.D. in the cleanup will kind of replace a guy like Pete, he’s an outstanding presence batting cleanup for us, he worked really well. That’s the J.D. that we know, we know he’s going to contribute with the bat. He got our offense going, first four runs immediately and then we added two more. I think it’s great we have him in the middle now, I think he’s going to help us score more runs.”