Dustin Pedroia falls one hit short of rarely challenged record

Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia got hot in a hurry this weekend and nearly tied a major-league record that hasn’t been equaled in 64 years.

Beginning with his 3-for-4 game on Thursday night, Pedroia started a run of 11 straight hits in 11 straight at-bats. That’s one hit short of the MLB record held by Johnny Kling (1902), Pinky Higgins (1938) and Walt Dropo (1952). There was also a walk in there in Friday’s game, but that didn’t impact the streak because a walk is not an official at-bat.

It started with hits in each of his final three at-bats on Thursday. It continued with a 4-for-4 performance on Friday. And it neared history after Pedroia started 4-for-4 again on Saturday. All he needed was one more hit to join very exclusive company, but he grounded into a 4-6-3 double play in his final at-bat.

 

Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox collected 11 straight hits, nearly tying an MLB record.

As it is, 11 for his last 12 doesn’t sound too bad either. In fact, he raised his batting average from .306 to .320 in a span of three days, which obviously doesn’t happen often when players are 500 at-bats deep into a season.

The Red Sox would hold on to win the game 8-3, with Pedroia’s four hits atop the order leading the way. Mookie Betts, who was 5-for-5 with five RBIs on Friday, stayed hot by hitting his 29th home run. Xander Bogaerts went 2-for-4 with a home run as the Red Sox continued cooling off the previously red-hot Royals.