The long national nightmare is over. Orioles first baseman Chris Davis has his first hit of the season.

Saturday afternoon against the Red Sox (GameTracker), Davis lined a first-inning, two-out single to right field to snap his MLB record 54 at-bat hitless streak. As an added bonus, the single drove in two runs.

Here is the monkey being lifted off Davis' back:

Davis asked for the ball following the single and the opposing fans at Fenway Park gave him a nice hand.

Prior to that single, Davis had been hitless in 62 consecutive plate appearances (also an MLB record) and 33 at-bats this season. His last hit prior to Saturday was a double against then-White Sox righty James Shields last September 14.

Here are the longest hitless streaks in MLB history:

  1. Chris Davis, 2018-19: 0 for 54
  2. Eugenio Velez, 2010-11: 0 for 46
  3. Bill Bergen, 1909: 0 for 45
  4. Dave Campbell, 1973: 0 for 45
  5. Craig Counsell, 2011: 0 for 45

Last season Davis, 33, hit .168/.243/.296 with 16 home runs and 192 strikeouts in 522 plate appearances. There have been over 61,000 individual position player seasons in baseball history, and, by WAR, Davis' 2018 was one of the 20 worst.

The Orioles signed Davis to a seven-year, $161 million contract during the 2015-16 offseason. I don't think even his biggest detractors expected the contract to go this bad. The Orioles still owe Davis approximately $92 million through 2022.

You can keep up with the rest of the day's action in our MLB roundup.