From watching to starting
Braves rookie found out he was going to pitch hours before game
Tucker Davidson’s day started like a movie and ended in reality.
His journey from World Series viewer to pitcher resulted in neither stardom nor shame. Davidson looked like the inexperienced rookie he is, struggling to throw strikes.
Five days after he watched the Series opener from a hotel in the Atlanta suburbs, the 25-year-old Braves left-hander allowed four runs and got six outs in Game 5 against the Houston Astros on Sunday night.
Given a 4-0 lead by Adam Duvall’s firstinning grand slam, he gave up Alex Bregman’s RBI double and Martin Maldonado’s sacrifice fly in the second.
Davidson allowed a pair of unearned runs in the third after shortstop Dansby Swanson allowed Jose Altuve’s leadoff grounder to bounced out of his glove for an error. Davidson walked Michael Brantley and was replaced by Jesse Chavez, who gave up Carlos Correa’s run-scoring double and Yuli Gurriel’s RBI groundout that tied the score 4-4.
Added to the roster after Charlie Morton broke a leg during Game 1 on Tuesday, Davidson followed Ian Anderson and Dylan Lee to become Atlanta’s third straight rookie starting pitcher — a Series first.
Braves manager Brian Snitker called Davidson about 11:30 a.m. and informed him of the surprise start. An hour later, the Texan arrived at Truist Park.
“He actually walked in and said, ‘Good morning,“’ Braves closer Will Smith recalled. “We’re like, ‘Tucker, it’s 3:15, so good afternoon.’”
Timing is everything.
This was just Davidson’s second baseball game in 4 months.
This was his first major league appearance since June 15, just the sixth of his career.
Snitker had deliberately delayed divulging the news to Davidson, like he had for Lee a day earlier.
“I know their phones have been blowing up and would be and processing a lot,” the 66-year-old manager said. Davidson’s response: “Let’s do it!” He started with a slider to Altuve for a called strike and retired him on a popup. He reached 95.4 mph and got out of the first by getting Correa to ground into an inningending double play.