SAN DIEGO — No offense in baseball has a higher batting average against breaking balls than the San Diego Padres. No hitter in the sport strikes out less than Luis Arraez, the closest thing the modern game has to Tony Gwynn.
Spencer Arrighetti, the Houston Astros’ rookie right-hander, stuck to his spin-happy tendencies in order to accomplish something not seen in more than a month. Arrighetti struck out Arraez in the second inning of Monday’s game at Petco Park, stopping a pursuit of something that Gwynn once made seem routine.
Luis Arraez’s incredible streak ends at 141 consecutive plate appearances without a strikeout. 👏 pic.twitter.com/YpaKo8wOHK
— MLB (@MLB) September 17, 2024
In 1995, Gwynn authored a stretch of 170 consecutive plate appearances without a strikeout. No player in the past 40 years has had a longer one — and few have even approached it.
For the past 37 days, Arraez has offered his best attempt. He arrived for work on Monday without a punchout in his past 140 plate appearances. The streak stretched to Aug. 10 and survived Monday’s first inning, when Arrighetti got Arraez into a two-strike count.
The Padres’ leadoff man rolled over Arrighetti’s putaway curveball for a groundout to prolong his punchout-less stretch. Arraez entered the game hitting .299 against breaking balls atop a lineup that boasted a .250 average against spin. San Diego’s .418 slugging percentage against breaking balls trailed only the Los Angeles Dodgers for the league lead. Arrighetti’s curveball comprises 20.1 percent of his arsenal during a rookie season in which he’s already punched out 158 batters.
One frame later, Arrighetti and Arraez engaged in a nine-pitch battle. To conclude it, Arrighetti spun another curveball. Arráez swung through it, soliciting an audible sigh from the Petco Park crowd.
Arrighetti pumped his fists before exiting the mound, perhaps more enthused that he stranded two baserunners than stopped Arraez’s streak at 141 plate appearances without a punchout.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only three players in the past 40 seasons have ever authored a longer stretch of plate appearances without a strikeout: Gwynn, Juan Pierre and Ken Oberkfell. Pierre had separate streaks of 143 in 2001 and 147 in 2004 while Oberkfell went 157 plate appearances without a punchout in 1987.
Twenty-nine years later, Gwynn’s stretch of 170 still remains the longest.
(Top photo of Luis Arraez on Monday: Denis Poroy / Getty Images)
