Davies in ‘one of worst stretches' of his career

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The Cubs’ 8-7 loss to the Braves on Monday extended a disheartening streak for pitcher Zach Davies.

For the fourth straight start, Davies exited before the fifth inning.

“Probably one of the worst stretches of my career,” Davies said. “And it is early, but at any point it sucks.”

On Monday, Davies gave up five runs in 3 2/3 innings and walked four batters. Of those five runs, all but one came in the first inning.

“It looked like he was having trouble establishing the fastball,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “When you’ve got a pitcher who throttles like that, has such a good changeup, when you fall behind and never have hitters committed to anything firm, their bats are able to stay in the zone really well.”

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The Cubs tied up the game with Kris Bryant’s third-inning grand slam. Davies was the one who started the rally, with a one-out single.

“Putting your team down four runs in the first inning, having a claw back,” Davies said, “you want the Kris Bryant homerun to be the go-ahead. You don't want it to be the have-to-come-from-behind. You want it to build the momentum.”

Instead, Davies gave up a solo homer to Dansby Swanson in the bottom half of the inning. The Braves re-took the lead.

“It’s been tough,” Davies said. “I don't think it's really anything too much mechanically, or pitches. It's just going out there and performing.”

Davies (9.47 ERA), who the Cubs acquired as part of the Yu Darvish trade this winter, made his best start of the season in his Cubs debut. He allowed just two runs to the Pirates in 5 2/3 innings on Opening Week.

His next start, however, Davies gave up seven runs in one frame at Pittsburgh. That 1 2/3-inning start, the shortest of Davies’ career, began the right-handers current rough stretch. Davies had a career 3.90 ERA entering play Monday.

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