Arraez finds stride in race for another batting title

HOUSTON -- That 1-for-18 start is so last month for Luis Arraez.

The Padres first baseman produced his seventh multihit game of April on Friday night, getting his average to .294 by going 3-for-5 with a two-run homer in San Diego’s 6-4 loss to the Astros at Daikin Park.

“That 1-for-18 could have easily been a 9-for-18,” said Padres manager Mike Shildt. “[He was] just hitting people out there right at ’em with gloves.”

With three consecutive batting titles to his credit, Arraez has a chance to join a mere half-dozen players, Hall of Famers all, who have won four in a row in AL/NL history. They are Ty Cobb (nine straight from 1907-15), Rogers Hornsby (six in a row from 1920-25), Honus Wagner (1906-1909), Rod Carew (1972-75), Wade Boggs (1985-88) and Padres icon Tony Gwynn (1994-97).

Arraez has hit safely in 13 of his last 16 games, and Friday marked his fourth game with at least three hits in that span. And with the 15-5 Padres still boasting the Majors’ best record, it’s unlikely he’ll be changing uniforms soon. Arraez won the 2022 American League batting title with the Twins before taking the 2023 National League crown with the Marlins. His 2024 NL crown was wrapped up with San Diego, which acquired him from Miami on May 4.

“He’s just a really special talent,” Shildt said. “Just amazing what he can do with that bat in his hand. He’s just got the ability to use the whole field, as he demonstrated tonight.”

Indeed. Arraez singled on a ground ball up the middle in the third inning, singled on a liner to left in the fifth, then hit a two-run homer to right to cut the Astros’ lead to 5-4 in the seventh. That long ball, his third of the year, came on a 92.8 mph four-seamer from Bryan King, who had been unscored upon in nine previous appearances for Houston this season.

“You get it to the wrong spot on the inner half, he can hurt you,” Shildt said of what can be sneaky power for Arraez. “But his game’s to sprinkle it all over the field. Just a world-class hitter.”

“Just see the ball,” Arraez said of his approach, which will not include selling out for power. “I don’t want to change anything. I just want to continue to [hit to all fields].”

Arraez totaled six home runs in his first three Major League seasons, from 2019-21. He went yard eight times in 2022 and hit 10 homers in 2023 before dropping back down to four a season ago. But he’s already one homer from matching that in 2025.

“He’s got it in there,” Shildt said. “You’ll hear guys like -- and I won’t put words in any of these guys’ mouth, but Luis may say it -- you know, Wade Boggs, Tony Gwynn … if you asked all those guys when they were asked about power, all of them will tell you they could hit for power. But they were able to hit for average, which helps your team a lot, as well. But he can turn his dial up if he needs to.”

Arraez’s homer in the seventh wasn’t enough to get Padres starter Kyle Hart off the hook. Hart, who allowed just one hit in six scoreless innings against the Rockies in his previous start, allowed five runs on 10 hits in five-plus innings Friday. His chief nemesis was Astros rookie Cam Smith, who tagged Hart for a three-run homer off a 91.5 mph four-seamer in the second inning and a solo drive off a 79.5 mph sweeper in the fourth.

“You take Smith out of the lineup -- which we cannot -- I thought he threw pretty well,” Shildt said of Hart, who allowed no walks and struck out two. “He got him for four of his runs. Overall, I thought he was good and competed, Threw enough quality strikes, made big pitches when he had to.”

Smith also did his best to rob Arraez of his homer, which was a couple rows beyond the right fielder’s grasp. Instead, Arraez had just the third three-homer month of his career. He hit three home runs in June 2022 and five in September 2023.

And while it is April, Arraez won’t deny thinking about his race for a fourth straight batting crown.

“I’ll be there,” he said. “We’re just starting, so let’s see where I finish the season.”