Chris Davis continued to struggle somewhat on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.
The first baseman went 0 for 4, with a strikeout.
However, he hit three balls hard, all caught -- including two warning track shots, one that came very close to exiting via dead center.
Davis’ last two-hit game came last month against the Yankees in Arlington, when he belted two home runs. That was May 26, the 7-3 win after a lengthy rain delay in Arlington.
It is still the only Rangers win against New York this season.
Slumps are a cruel and inevitable mistress in baseball (unless your name is Ichiro or Tony Gwynn). Davis is coming to know her all too well.
The 23-year-old has gone three for his last 48, including the two aforementioned home runs against the Yankees. Last night, it seemed he couldn’t buy a break.
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Such are slumps, I suppose.
These nights can be either monumentally discouraging or vaguely reassuring, and it really depends on the hitter.
Davis’ batting average has sunk to .189. His on base percentage is at a measly .247. And more and more, people are growing curious about the whereabouts of last year’s first round draft pick, first baseman from South Carolina, Justin Smoak.
Hopefully, for Davis and everyone else, last night will serve as a positive harbinger, a sign that the sophomore is ready to break out again. There’s little reason to think he won’t.
Because unlike Smoak, or just about anyone else Texas could trot out, Davis has proven not only that he can hit Major League pitching, but crush it.
