Luis Arraez's mind-blowing streak has come to an end.
On Monday night, the San Diego Padres designated hitter struck out in the bottom of the second inning. It was the first time he had recorded a strikeout in an amazing 141 plate appearances. That was the longest such streak Major League Baseball had seen in the last 20 years.
Arraez made Houston Astros pitcher Spencer Arrighetti work for it. Arrighetti fell behind 2-0, then worked his way back to 2-2. Arraez fouled off the fifth pitch, then took the sixth for a ball, making it 3-2. Arraez fouled off two more pitches before finally striking out on a nasty curveball low and in on the ninth pitch of the at-bat.
Video is below.
Luis Arraez's incredible streak ends at 141 consecutive plate appearances without a strikeout. 👏 pic.twitter.com/YpaKo8wOHK
— MLB (@MLB) September 17, 2024
Arraez went more than a month without striking out. He last struck out on August 10. In the games between strikeouts, he hit .394 with a .434 on-base percentage and slugged .465. In that same amount of time, MLB strikeouts leader Elly De La Cruz struck out 46 times.
The longest streak of plate appearances without a strikeout in the past 40 seasons fittingly belonged to Padres legend Tony Gwynn at 170 in 1995. Arraez tied Gwynn for the fifth-longest streak in the last 40 years, which Gwynn accomplished across the 1995 and 1996 seasons.
Arraez entered Monday night's game leading the National League with a .322 batting average and appears to be en route to winning his third straight batting title. He's earned it after this streak.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Luis Arraez Finally Struck Out After an Incredible 141 Plate Appearances.
