On Friday night in Dayton the 39-game hitting streak for Jose Siri came to an end in a poor way. The night before things did not go well for the Dragons and Great Lakes player Cody Thomas hit three home runs in his first three at-bats of the game. In his fourth trip to the plate he took the first pitch in the back and the Loons, understandably, were upset about it. When the Dragons best hitter came up to the plate next, baseball logic tends to say to hit that guy as “payback”. It’s a stupid thing that baseball does, but it is what it is. The only problem was that when Siri came to the plate next, he had a 38-game hitting streak on the line and the bases were loaded. With a big lead you could have just done it there, but they didn’t. The Dragons outfielder took the first pitch he saw and doubled off of the wall to extend his hitting streak to 39 games.
On Friday night, Jose Siri started out the game 0-3. He grounded out, struck out and flew out in his first three at-bats. Once again it was going to come down to the final trip to the plate for the Cincinnati Reds prospect. Except that Great Lakes wasn’t going to give him the chance. The first pitch went behind him for ball one. It was the next pitch that was probably the best one he would get a chance at, despite the catcher setting up the target in the opposite batters box. The ball missed inside, but Siri tried to bunt at it and missed. The next pitch then came way inside once again. A slider 8 inches outside was swung through to make it 2-2. A breaking ball that was supposed to be well outside ran across the plate and came inside and Siri would foul it off to stay alive. The next pitch was a fastball called for and thrown in the other batters box to make it a full count. In the final pitch of the plate appearance the catch pointed to his own head, then tapped the dirt in the middle of the opposite batters box. The pitch was 2 feet outside and 6 inches off of the ground. Jose Siri had no chance on the ball and unfortunately saw his hit streak come to an end as he took the walk.
As Jose Siri was trotting down the line to first base the pitcher walked towards him and said something. At that point both benches cleared and some words were said, but things stayed relatively calm as the umpires and coaching staffs for both teams seemed to keep the players under control given the circumstances of what had just played out. It was an unfortunate way to end the longest hitting streak that the league had ever seen, over something so petty as retribution for something that happened the day prior.
Inside Jose Siri’s 39-game hitting streak
Jose Siri’s 39-game hitting streak actually spanned 40 games. In one game he pinch hit, but was walked and thus it doesn’t officially count as an at-bat. Since it was the only plate appearance of the game, it is not counted against the streak. The streak itself spanned 182 plate appearances, starting on June 22nd and going through August 3rd. When it began, Siri was still 21-years-old and his birthday wasn’t for another month.
He would rack up 59 hits over the streak, including an incredible 12 doubles, three triples and 13 home runs. He would hit .341/.363/.671 in the span that would not only nearly double the Dayton Dragons franchise record hitting streak, but set a new mark for the Midwest League. In 14 of the games he racked up multiple hits.
When the hit streak start, Jose Siri was having a solid season, hitting .260/.320/.422. This morning his line stands at .293/.337/.526 after going on a historical run for Dayton. While minor league records aren’t exactly the best kept thing, as far as I’ve been able to find online in my research, 39 games would be the longest minor league hit streak in Reds history.