Elite company: Whit Merrifield extends hitting streak, ties Brett for Royals’ record
Whit Merrifield sat up from his chair as a throng of media began to approach his locker. As the hitting streak has grown, so have the number of cameras, the number of tape recorders and the number of questions.
It’s old baseball code not to talk about a hitting streak, same as a no-hitter. But Merrifield held court for 10 minutes before Tuesday’s first pitch. And after his final response, as most reporters turned their backs to leave the room, there was Merrifield with his most emphatic statement yet.
“Hey, I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” he said, a point to his message.
Indeed.
Perhaps more of them.
Merrifield extended his hitting streak to 30 games in the first inning Tuesday, tying George Brett for the longest in franchise history.
He made it count, too. Merrifield split the gap in right center, turning it into a triple. He later scored on Adalberto Mondesi’s infield single.
The hitting streak covers two seasons — Merrifield hit safely in his final 20 games of 2018 and has done the same in the initial 10 of 2019. He has the longest streak in all of baseball since Atlanta’s Freddie Freeman in 2016, and he’s only the eighth American League player to reach 30 games since 1969.
This story was originally published April 9, 2019 at 8:04 PM.