There was still plenty of celebration in San Diego, despite Luis Arraez finally striking out. On Monday night, the Padres secured an important win over the Astros at Petco Park (3-1), strengthening their position in the NL wild-card race. They remain close enough to the Dodgers to keep the NL West race competitive. This victory marked San Diego’s fourth consecutive win and their 36th in their last 51 games.
Monday’s game featured a rare moment: Luis Arraez struck out. Astros pitcher Spencer Arrighetti got him to swing and miss on a breaking ball in the second inning. It was Arraez’s first strikeout in 141 plate appearances, a streak that began on August 10.
After the game, Arraez was unfazed by the strikeout. “I strike out, and I said, ‘I’ve got two more at-bats.’ Let’s see what happens,” Arraez explained. True to his word, he followed up with a single in the fourth inning and a double in the seventh. He did leave the game after tweaking his knee on that double but indicated he expects to play on Tuesday.
“It was a really cool moment for me,” said Arrighetti about breaking Arraez’s streak. “I was very aware of it.”
Arraez’s streak was the longest without a strikeout since Juan Pierre went 143 plate appearances in 2001. Here’s how Arraez’s streak stacks up 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
This season, Arraez has struck out just 27 times in 636 plate appearances, giving him a 4.2% strikeout rate—far below the league average of 22.5%. Steven Kwan of the Guardians has the second-lowest rate in MLB at 9.4%, with no other player below 10%.
Arraez has consistently reduced his strikeout rate over the years: 10.0% in 2021, 7.1% in 2022, 5.5% in 2023, and now 4.2% in 2024. The last player to finish a full season with a strikeout rate below 5% was Jeff Keppinger in 2008 (4.8%). Arraez’s current rate is the lowest since Pierre’s 4.2% in 2001.
Acquired in a trade from the Marlins in May, Arraez has been hitting .330/.359/.403 in 108 games for the Padres and .323/.356/.396 for the season overall. He leads the National League in batting average, 20 points ahead of Marcell Ozuna. Arraez is on track to become the first player in history to win three batting titles with three different teams, potentially in three consecutive years.
With Monday’s win, the Padres improved to 86-65, holding a 2.5-game lead over the Diamondbacks for the top NL wild-card spot and a 4.5-game cushion for a wild-card berth in general. San Diego is also just 3.5 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West, with a three-game series against them next week—where the Padres hold the tiebreaker advantage.
