Davis' woes continue as Rays lose to Padres, 2-1

Andy Sonnanstine is staying put in the bullpen.

"(He's) very valuable to us right now," Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "Very valuable."

Jeremy Hellickson is not coming up from Triple-A Durham.

"That's not been a discussion," Maddon said.

So, whatever is wrong with Wade Davis will be fixed at the major-league level.

"The biggest discussion is getting Wade right," Maddon said. "That's been the bigger discussion."

Davis wasn't right Tuesday against the visiting San Diego Padres, losing for the fourth time in four starts this month, this time 2-1.

The rookie right-hander allowed four hits and those two runs, not bad until you consider Davis lasted 4 1/3 innings and threw 103 pitches, only 58 for strikes.

"We absolutely need more consistency there," Maddon said. "It's all about strike throwing. His stuff is definitely good enough. The fastball has been too shotgun and we got to get it working where we want to in order for him to be successful. ... For right now it's just not working, and I don't have a real good answer for you. We just got to make it better."

The loss was the Rays' fifth in their past six games. Once again, the offense was stymied by another dominating performance from a pitcher, this time Padres right-hander Mat Latos, who allowed three hits in seven shutout innings. He struck out eight and improved to 7-1 with a 1.81 ERA in his last nine starts.

Latos received all the offense he would need in the third inning when the Padres scored twice without hitting the ball out of the infield. Davis walked three and hit a batter with the bases loaded.

Davis needed 41 pitches to get through the third inning. That after needing 30 pitches to get out of the first. He is averaging 18.2 pitches per inning.

Davis walked a season-high five after walking one batter in his previous three starts combined. He dropped to 5-8 with a 4.90 ERA, which includes an 0-4 run and a 7.32 ERA since his last victory, May 28 against the White Sox.

Davis said he's been through stretches like this during his six years in the minors.

"Yeah, I've had some bad times," Davis said. "This is definitely nothing to panic about. I felt good. My body feels good. Delivery is still good. It's just a couple of tweaks here and there we have to make in the bullpen and keep on going."

When asked if he worried about his spot in the rotation, Davis said, "No."

Maddon said as much, as well, saying Davis threw enough innings during his minor-league career to warrant a longer look at the major-league level.

"I'm sure he's not going to admit to that, but there has to be some self-doubt when he has these kinds of struggles," Maddon said. "You have to fight through it. We always talk about the numbers he pitched in the minor leagues that will help him through these difficult times here, and hopefully, that's what's going to happen. It's not like he hasn't been pitching professionally for a while, he has. This is his first full year here, and hopefully some of the tribulations he's experienced in the past will help him at this point. He's a tough kid. He's a tough kid. I don't really worry about his psyche in a sense, but he definitely needs something good to help his confidence."