He’s hot: Davis gets 3 hits in win

“a veteran pro move.” The crowd at Fenway Park cheered.

“It was pretty cool,” Davis said. “Obviously, I’ve been looking forward to it for a while, but there’s no way to really put into words kind of what I was feeling really when I looked back at our bench and saw the guys going crazy. That’s probably been the biggest pick-me-up moment in this whole thing, aside from getting a hit. … It was too hard not to step back and really enjoy the moment, especially when I saw my teammates erupting and heard the cheers. It was pretty special.”

“He told me he got chills going down his arm when the whole dugout was fired up,” right-hander Andrew Cashner said. “We’ve been pulling for him.”

It was Davis’ first hit since Sept. 14, 2018 against the Chicago White Sox, ending a hitless stretch that lasted 210 days. He broke the major league record for consecutive at-bats without a hit when his streak reached 47 on Monday, and the record of 56 plate appearances without a hit was eclipsed Thursday.

But once the inning was over, the good feelings didn’t end. He went back into the dugout to get his cap and glove, and got a hug from Trey Mancini. Davis grounded out in the third inning, doubled to drive in another run in the fifth, added a run-scoring forceout in the sixth and doubled to open the eighth. He raised his batting average to .079.

For manager Brandon Hyde, it was a just reward for what he’s seen from Davis this past week. Davis didn’t get the celebratory beer shower that marked their winning weekend in New York to open the season, but he was greeted to a raucous rally in the clubhouse.

“I’ve been really happy with his at-bats, honestly, the last four or five days,” Hyde said. “I think his pinch-hit at-bats have been all really good. I thought that he squared a couple balls against Oakland a couple days ago, so I felt this was coming. I loved his at-bat yesterday. I can tell he was in a better place mentally, and it was just a matter of time. Good thing it happened today.

“This guy is tough, and this guy is mentally tough. To persevere through some really difficult times — the spotlight is on him, everybody’s talking about it and writing, he’s seeing it on TV. For him to be able to be the same guy every day and have a grind-out approach — it’s a great feeling.”