24 hours ago, Chris Davis was sitting on the Orioles' bench, given a night off because, in his own words, "I've been sucking lately". A 4-for-36 slump and a tough matchup in White Sox lefty Chris Sale gave Buck Showalter all of the motivation he needed to start red-hot Steve Pearce at first base and slide Delmon Young into the lineup at DH. A few hours later, Davis was called upon to pinch hit for Young (who had gone 3-for-4 in his stead) against Chicago's righthanded closer Ronald Belisario. What he did next was something that no Oriole pinch hitter had done in nearly 26 years: hit a walkoff home run.
Crush's blast to right field came with one out, two runners on base, a full count, and the O's trailing 4-3. As he rounded third base, the slugger took off his helmet and bowled it into his teammates, who were waiting at home to mob him. Surprisingly, the Birds hadn't gotten a game-ending homer from a pinch hitter since
August 24, 1988, when Larry Sheets batted for Rene Gonzales and turned a ninth-inning, 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 victory over Mike Schooler and the Mariners.
Chris Davis took a very good shot at unsucking last night.
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