There is joy in San Diego even though the mighty Arraez struck out. On Monday night, the Padres strengthened their grip on the top NL wild-card spot -- and continue to hover close enough to the Dodgers to keep the NL West race interesting -- with a win over the Astros at Petco Park (SD 3, HOU 1). It was San Diego's fourth straight win and their 36th in the last 51 games.
Monday's game did a feature a rarity: Luis Arraez struck out. Specifically, Astros righty Spencer Arrighetti got him to swing over a breaking ball for strike three in the second inning. It was Arraez's first strike out in 141 plate appearances, dating back to Aug. 10.
"I strike out, and I said: 'I've got two more at-bats.' Let's see what happens," Arraez said after the game (via MLB.com). He followed the strikeout with a single in the fourth inning and a double in the seventh, though he exited the game after tweaking his knee on the double. After the game, Arraez said he expects to play Tuesday.
"It was a really cool moment for me, for sure," Arrighetti said about ending Arraez's no-strikeout streak (via The Athletic). "I was very aware of it."
Arraez's streak is the longest no-strikeout streak since Juan Pierre went 143 plate appearances between strikeouts back in 2001. Here are the longest streaks without a strikeout in the Expansion Era (since 1961):
- Tony Gwynn, 1995 Padres: 170 plate appearances
- Ken Oberkfell, 1987 Braves: 157 plate appearances
- Juan Pierre, 2004 Marlins: 147 plate appearances
- Juan Pierre, 2001 Rockies: 143 plate appearances
- Luis Arraez, 2024 Padres: 141 plate appearances
For the season, Arraez has struck out 27 times in 636 plate appearances, a 4.2% strikeout rate that is far below the 22.5% league average. Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan has the second-lowest strikeout rate in baseball at 9.4%. No one else is under 10%.
Arraez has managed to again lower his strikeout rate this year. He had a 10.0% strikeout rate in 2021 and whittled that down to 7.1% in 2022, 5.5% in 2023, and now 4.2% in 2024. The last qualified batter to finish a 162-game season with a sub-5% strikeout rate was Jeff Keppinger in 2008 (4.8%). Arraez's strikeout rate would be the lowest since Pierre in 2001 (4.2%).
Acquired in a May trade with the Marlins, Arraez is hitting .330/.359/.403 in 108 games with the Padres and .323/.356/.396 on the season overall. He leads the NL in batting average, 20 points higher than Marcell Ozuna. Arraez is poised to become the first player ever to win three batting titles with three different teams, and he could do it in three consecutive years.
Monday's win improved the Padres to 86-65. They have a 2 1/2-game lead over the Diamondbacks for the top wild-card spot and a 4 1/2-game lead on a wild-card spot in general. San Diego is 3 1/2 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West. The two teams have a three-game series next week and the Padres hold the tiebreaker.
