Davis Slams the Door on All the Negatives

Eric Davis, who has heard so much advice about his swing that it all but tied him in knots, at long last unraveled Tuesday night.

The deep dark secret? He listened to himself.

It was only one pitch from John Smiley, one fifth inning in May, one swing from the heels, but could mark a new beginning for a man barely hitting his weight as the baseball vultures circled his cubicle.

After a season of slams against him, Davis returned one of his own, blowing open a close game with a fifth-inning grand slam to lift the Dodgers to a 9-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds before a crowd of 33,580 at Dodger Stadium.

For the second consecutive night, Davis met before the game with former Dodger Reggie Smith, the minor league instructor who was all but rushed to Los Angeles by emergency vehicle to straighten out Davis’ swing.

Davis, who once hit 37 home runs in a season while a Red, entered Tuesday’s game batting .211 with three extra-base hits since opening day.

Smith watched Davis and saw a batter overloaded with information. Everyone was trying to help but no one was.

“Eric had become a combination of Reggie Smith, Tommy Lasorda, Ben Hines and Lou Piniella,” Smith said.

Smith suggested he try being Eric Davis.

“He’s doing what he feels he needs to do get back in the past,” Smith said. “ ‘What did I do in the past? What did I do that made me a success? What did I do when people said I was the best player in baseball?’ ”

Can too much advice hurt?

“Definitely,” Davis said. “If you’re not a stubborn ballplayer, if you don’t have an ego, if you’re trying to please everyone, it can hurt you.”

Did that happen to him? “Yeah,” he said.

In the fifth inning, the stage was set for Davis.

Smiley, the Reds’ starter, set it for him, falling apart in a scoreless game after striking out the first two Dodgers.

Eric Karros and Jody Reed kept the inning alive with consecutive singles.

Smiley then did the unthinkable, walking Dodger pitcher Kevin Gross to load the bases, and walking Jose Offerman on four pitches to force in a run.

Up stepped Davis, a pitcher’s dream until now. Smiley got two quick strikes on Davis, then threw a ball. Davis then unloaded a drive into the left-field pavilion to put the Dodgers up, 5-0.

“As long as I play the game, I’ll never lose confidence in my abilities,” Davis said. “It’s just a matter of letting me play.”

The Dodgers added two more in the sixth on Jody Reed’s two-run double, and two more runs in the eighth, the first on catcher Mike Piazza’s seventh home run of the season, an opposite-field flare into the right-field seats near the foul pole.

Davis had a chance to add a second grand slam in the eighth, but instead walked on a 3-2 pitch to pick up his fifth RBI of the night.

The Dodgers provided plenty of support for Kevin Gross (3-3), who worked out of some early jams and settled down to earn a complete-game victory. It was Gross’ first win since April 18.

Gross gave up one unearned run in the seventh and six hits. He struck out seven and walked two.

Smiley (1-6) gave up five earned runs in five innings.

Gross appeared on the ropes in both the first and second innings.

With two on and none out in the first, Gross got Barry Larkin to bounce into a double play and then struck out Kevin Mitchell to end the inning.

With one out in the second, Gross gave up a walk and a single. But he escaped again with a double play, this time getting Joe Oliver to ground to short.

“I’ve been struggling in the first inning,” Gross said. “When I got out of the first, I knew I had great stuff. Then when we got runs in the fifth and sixth, I just went hard the rest of the way.”