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Astros rookie ends Luis Arráez's streak, preserving Tony Gwynn's Padres record

Eric Cole
Eric Cole

Friars On Base

Houston Astros v San Diego Padres / Matt Thomas/San Diego Padres/GettyImages

While most of the attention when it comes to the San Diego Padres has focused their pursuit of a playoff spot, it has been almost as impossible to ignore Luis Arráez's impressive streak with no strikeouts. Starting on Aug. 11, Arráez had gone 136 plate appearances without striking out, which is the longest such streak in a couple decades.

These are the sorts of runs that are rarely seen in baseball anymore as the emphasis on hitting the ball hard, combined with pitchers increasing their velocity, has made the "just make contact" plan easier said than done. Arráez hasn't just been trying not to strike out — he is playing his best baseball of the season right now while also being almost impossible to strike out.

Sadly, the "almost" part of that became important on Monday evening. Arráez finally struck out against Spencer Arrighetti, although the Padres still emerged victorious by the score of 3-1.

Luis Arráez's Padres strikeout streak ends Monday vs Astros

Arráez final tally of plate appearances without a strikeout ended on 141 with a nasty breaking ball from Arrighetti, who was quite pleased to get that one. San Diego managed to make him work at times and force him out of the game after five innings, but sometimes you have to tip your cap to a guy who pitched quite well and had his stuff working.

With the end of Arráez's streak, he officially finishes tied with Tony Gwynn for the fifth-longest such mark in the last 40 years, although Gwynn's 170 plate appearances without a K back in 1995 still reigns supreme.

Again, the Padres won the game over a very tough Astros team thanks to a stellar outing from Yu Darvish and big games from Jurickson Profar, Manny Machado, and Jackson Merrill, so it was fine in the end. However, Arráez was also hurt on a play at the plate that forced him to leave the game early in the seventh inning. After the game, Arráez downplayed the severity of his ailing knee.

How incredibly on-brand for Arráez to mention being mad about striking out while answering an unrelated question. His injury is worth monitoring, but most Padres fans are just looking forward to his next streak and wondering how far San Diego can go this year with Arráez helping at the top of the lineup.

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Eric Cole

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.