BALTIMORE – Nick Davila may never get another bite of those soup dumplings. But he did manage to hang onto his first major league save.
The Seattle Mariners rookie capped a chaotic 24 hours with an even more unsettling 10th inning of work Tuesday, June 9 against the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards. Yet after a hit-by-pitch, a single, a harrowing putout at home upheld by replay review and a timely strikeout, Davila nailed down the Mariners’ 6-5, 10-inning win.
It was a big moment in the 26-year-old right-hander’s career: He made his major league debut May 3 but hadn’t pitched for the big club since May 23 – nor was he expecting to do so this week.
Instead, a second anniversary dinner with his girlfriend, Morgan, was on tap, with a 7:30 PT reservation at Din Thai Phung at a mall in the Seattle-Tacoma area on Monday night.
Then he got a phone call: John Russell, his manager at Class AAA Tacoma, told him he was going to hop a red eye and meet the Mariners in Baltimore. Cooper Criswell, their trusty right-handed reliever, had a shoulder strain. An injured list stint might be possible. Davila was going to be summoned to the taxi squad.