BOSTON — Jackie Bradley Jr. had to work a little harder to keep his hitting streak alive Saturday.
The Red Sox center fielder entered his team’s contest against the Cleveland Indians with a 25-game hitting streak on the line and was walked in his first two at-bats.
But Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer finally pitched to Bradley to lead off the sixth inning, and the 26-year-old used some hustle to stretch his hitting streak to 26 games.
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Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis almost kept Bradley off the basepaths with an excellent diving stop, but his throw just pulled first baseman Carlos Santana off the bag. Cleveland manager Terry Francona challenged the safe call, but the play stood after an umpire review.
Bradley’s hitting streak is now the fourth-longest Red Sox hitting streak since 2005, trailing only 27-game hitting streaks by Manny Ramirez (2006) and David Ortiz (2012-13) and a 29-gamer by Johnny Damon in 2005. His 26-game hitting streak also is the longest single-game streak in Red Sox’s history since Ramirez’s in 2006.
Bradley needs hits in eight more consecutive games to tie Dom DiMaggio, who owns the longest hitting streak in Red Sox history at 34 games.
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
