Henry Davis Gives Himself Plenty of Reasons to Smile in Pirates’ Win Over Reds

PITTSBURGH — Henry Davis is about as no-nonsense as they come these days.

The Pittsburgh Pirates catcher is ultra-competitive and carries a reputation as one of the hardest working players in the clubhouse. He’s incredibly focused, disciplined and is always working on his craft. Because of that, it can sometimes be hard to get him to crack a smile.

But in the Pirates’ 9-1 rout of the Cincinnati Reds to snap a five-game skid at PNC Park on Friday night, Davis, who had a big hand in the win, had a fairly-regular grin on his face throughout.

At the plate, Davis hit his first two home runs of the season, drove in a career-high three runs and reached base safely three times.

“Felt really good,” Davis said of his performance. “I’ve hit homers in the past with the swing not right, but seeing my barrel work through the middle of the field. I’ve been doing it in batting practice for a while. Old, bad habits have been taking over in the game. To see it happen, to take a fastball to the middle of the field really felt good.”

Davis connected on a solo home run to center field off Reds starter Brady Singer in the bottom of the fourth inning to extend the Pirates’ lead to 4-0. It was his first home run since he went deep last year in Atlanta in the final series of the 2025 season.

The following inning, Davis hammered a two-run shot down the left field off Zach Maxwell , giving him his first multi-homer game since going deep twice off Shohei Ohtani — then with the Angels — in Anaheim on July 21, 2023.

“I don’t know but I like it,” manager Don Kelly said when asked what got into Davis tonight. “He had great at-bats, stayed through the middle.”

Davis entered play with a lowly .447 OPS but upped that mark to .582. While there is still room for improvement, Davis is hoping some of the adjustments he’s made will result in that number climbing even higher.

“That’s the plan,” he said. “Keep working at it.”

In addition to what he did at the plate, he made a big impact by what he did behind it.

Davis called a masterful game for starter Mitch Keller , who threw seven innings of one-run ball. The right-hander held the Reds to three hits, walked one and tied a season-high with six strikeouts.

“[Davis] was calling a really good game there,” Keller said after his outing. “I don’t think I shook once.”

Keller, Justin Lawrence and Evan Sisk combined to hold the Reds in check. A two-homer game is nice, but Davis was most pleased with what the trio of pitchers did.

“For sure being behind the plate,” Davis said when asked which one he takes more pride in. “Nine innings against a really good offense, one run, we’ll take that any day.”

Despite having arguably the best game of his career, a team win — especially one that puts a five-game losing streak to bed — was the biggest reason for Davis’ smile.

That’s what’s expected from a team-first guy like he is.

“Obviously we have a really good team,” said Davis. “Went through a little lull. But we’re a good team. We hit back. And we’re gonna keep doing that.”

The post Henry Davis Gives Himself Plenty of Reasons to Smile in Pirates’ Win Over Reds appeared first on Pittsburgh Baseball Now .