Friday night at Fenway Park, the Red Sox dropped their third straight game, this one to the division rival Blue Jays (TOR 5, BOS 2). It was also Toronto's eighth win in their last nine game.
The Red Sox did make things interesting in the ninth. In fact, they brought the tying run to the plate with two outs. The batter? Xander Bogaerts, whose 26-game hitting streak was on the line. He'd gone 0 for 2 with two walks, a strikeout, and a ground out to short earlier in the game.
Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna fell behind in the count 3-0 to Bogaerts, which not only threatened the hitting streak with another walk, but also nearly put the tying run on base. Instead, Osuna rebounded to strike Bogaerts out. The final pitch was way up and out of the zone:
So with that, Bogaerts went 0 for 3 with two walks and two strikeouts on the night, ending his hitting streak at 26 games. He went 45 for 117 (.385) during the hitting streak, which started on May 6. It was the second-longest hitting streak of the season.
Here are the three longest:
1. Jackie Bradley Jr., Red Sox - 29 games
2. Xander Bogaerts, Red Sox - 26 games
3. Eric Hosmer, Royals - 18 games
Several players have had 16-game hitting streaks this season.
How rare is it for two teammates to have hitting streaks as long as Bradley and Bogaerts in the same season? Pretty rare, actually. It's only the sixth time it's happened since 1920.
If Bogaerts gets a hit tonight, Red Sox will be 6th team since 1920 to have 2 players run up 25-game hitting streaks pic.twitter.com/CfOwK77klv
— James Smyth (@JamesSmyth621) June 1, 2016
Even with Friday's 0 for 3, Bogaerts is still hitting .343/.397/.500 on the season. He's only 23, you know. The kid is a star, and he seems to be getting better by the game.
