CLEVELAND — Zach Davies took a fairly unusual route back to the big leagues on Monday night, starting a game after a month on the injured list without the benefit of a minor league rehab assignment.
That he returned one day before the trade deadline probably was not a coincidence, but it also was not something anyone was ready to admit, not before or after Davies went just two innings in a 5-4, 11-inning loss to the Cleveland Guardians.
If the outing was an audition of sorts, it is hard to say if it was successful or not. On the one hand, Davies looked mostly like his normal self. His velocity was in its usual range. He induced some soft contact on the ground. And he came away from it healthy.
On the other hand, he walked two, allowed four runs — all of the damage coming on a pair of two-run homers — and needed 56 pitches.
With the trade deadline set for 3 p.m. on Tuesday, it will become clear soon enough whether the performance was enough to convince a rival team to want to make a deal to acquire him.
When a starting pitcher spends more than a couple of weeks on the injured list, he usually ends up reporting to one of his club’s minor league affiliates to make a rehab start. Such outings not only allow pitchers to regain feel for their pitches against professional competition, it lets them build up their stamina in hopes of being able to pitch deeper into games upon their return.
Davies, however, made no such outing. His only game action came in a simulated game in which he threw two innings and 40 pitches. As such, he was only going to be available to throw a maximum of 60 pitches on Monday.
In a sense, the Diamondbacks paid a price for Davies’ short start. They were forced to all but empty their bullpen, using every reliever except for right-hander Taylor Widener, who had been recalled shortly before the game to replace Luke Weaver after Weaver was traded to the Kansas City Royals earlier in the day.
And rather than go to Widener, the Diamondbacks sent closer Mark Melancon back to the mound in the 11th inning for a second inning of work — the first time he had pitched more than one inning all season. The Guardians walked him off when Amed Rosario shot a Melancon curveball into right for the game-winning hit, driving home the automatic runner, Will Benson, who had started the inning on second base.
Davies was asked how the team settled on the decision for him to bypass the rehab start route.
“Just talking with the training staff and relaying to (manager) Torey (Lovullo) and (pitching coach Brent Strom) and seeing what the best fit is,” Davies said. “They told me that we’d like to build you up in the big leagues. I was good with that. I had faced hitters. I know where my stuff is at and where I need to be to pitch up here. I was good with it and happy with it.”
Before the game, Lovullo gave a non-answer when asked if the team were trying to speed up Davies’ return for trade purposes. Davies was asked after the game if he thought his trade candidacy was a primary consideration.
“I don’t know,” he said. “For me, I’m just playing. If that’s the decision that was made, then it is what it is. I was healthy. I was ready to be off of the IL. I was taking this as whatever decision they made with it was their decision, but for me it was, ‘All right, I’m ready to pitch in the big leagues again.’”
Davies would be a fairly affordable option for a club looking for veteran rotation help. He has a base salary this year of just $1.75 million, with another $2.5 million worth of bonuses available, some of which he already has earned.
Through 16 starts, Davies has a 4.28 ERA, performing more like the pitcher he had prior to his brutal 2021 season with the Chicago Cubs in which he posted a 5.78 ERA in 32 starts.
Reach Piecoro at (602) 444-8680 or nick.piecoro@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickpiecoro.