On Wednesday afternoon, the Pittsburgh Pirates won back-to-back games for the first time in just under a month. As Dennis Santana capped off a stellar pitching performance by the Pirate arms, the club took a series from the Cincinnati Reds, giving them an ounce of momentum heading into a four-game swing with Milwaukee over the weekend.
But the real hero of the game might have been Henry Davis, who experienced a mini break out game for the Pirates.
Davis put together a solid day offensively and worked an excellent game behind the dish. It was one of the very rare times that Davis looked like the first overall pick that he is.
The catcher went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI in Pittsburgh’s series-winning game.
He drew a walk in the second inning off Reds starter Brady Singer, who despite limiting the run damage, wasn’t super sharp on the mound. Singer walked four and was hit hard by the Pirate bats, but was bailed out on more than one occasion by his defense.
Davis’ walk put runners on first and second, but a called third strike on Oneil Cruz ended the inning.
In the fourth, with Ke’Bryan Hayes Davis drilled a single to into left field, scoring Hayes and restoring the lead for the Pirates. That hit, which made it 2-1 Pirates, stood as the game-winning RBI. It was just the fourth RBI hit by Davis this season.
But the sixth inning was certainly Davis’ best of the day. In the top of the inning, reliever Chase Shugart had gotten himself into a bit of trouble. The righty issued a two-out walk to Spencer Steer after being ahead on him 0-2.
Then, Tyler Stephenson launched one to left field, where a charging Tommy Pham had to run into the corner to gather it. Steer raced around the bases and was waved home, where he was thrown out on a beautiful relay play by the Pirates.
Pham got the ball to shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who fired it to Davis to apply the tag at home.
Give both Pham and Kiner-Falefa credit, but ultimately it’s Davis who has to apply the tag, and he did.
On the broadcast, Greg Brown and John Wehner speculated as to whether Davis’ idle stance, the “Statue of Liberty” pose, had fooled Steer into thinking he had an easier path to the plate.
On the replay, you can see former Pirate and current Red Connor Joe, who was on deck, signaling to Steer to slide.
Whether it bought Davis the extra second he needed or not, it was still an incredibly impressive play.
In the bottom half of that inning, Davis hit a groundball to the flame throwing shortstop Elly De La Cruz. But give Davis credit, he ran hard out of the batter’s box and upon review, was called safe at first base, beating out the throw to the bag.
In the seventh inning, Davis capped off an already stellar day throwing out Will Benson as he was trying to steal second.
Kelly was glowing about Davis’ work on the field in his post-game availability.
“I mean what a game he had today,” he said. “The hits, the walk, the deke at home plate, throwing the guy out stealing. I mean, just a phenomenal game by Henry today, it was awesome.”
Kelly praised his work ethic, how he puts in extra time at practice and how, despite not getting consistent playing time so far this season, he was able to step up in a big moment and help deliver a win.
Davis, meanwhile, was bashful about his performance, opting to praise the pitching staff, who held the Reds to one run over the last 18 innings.
“They’ve shouldered it, for sure,” he said postgame. They’ve stepped up to the challenge. I know we’re not scoring a lot right now, we haven’t scored a decent bit in this past stretch, and they’re just answering the call.”
But for Davis, Wednesday was as sharp as he has ever looked defensively. In my mind, he is their best defensive catcher right now, but rarely do you see him able to dominate behind the dish like he did today.
Meanwhile, with the bat, Davis notched his first multi-hit game of 2025 and just the 15th multi-hit game of his major league career. He improved his slash line to .190/.277/.262 through 16 games.
Davis has played sparingly over the 2025 season, only factoring into 16 games and getting to the plate 49 times. He started the season in Triple-A, but with backup catcher and first baseman Endy Rodriguez went on the IL with injury.
Davis has been relegated to Paul Skenes’ personal catcher, which has kept him a roster spot but has limited him to a guaranteed start every fifth day.
Of the 13 starts Davis has made this season, six of them have been with Skenes on the mound. He also took over in the first inning of a Skenes start that saw Rodriguez injured.
In May, Davis has caught four Skenes starts, one Mitch Keller start, and two Heaney starts.
The only other starter Davis has caught more than twice this season is Heaney, who marked his third game with him on Wednesday. So, perhaps there’s an avenue for Davis to get into some more game action when Heaney takes the mound.
Getting him some more consistent playing time is the key to seeing if he can finally unlock what the Pirates saw in him when they drafted him back in 2021. It will be interesting to see how Kelly manages his playing time moving forward.
Fifth Avenue Sports 
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