Jackie Bradley Jr. homered on Friday, collected an infield single on Saturday, and singled sharply on Sunday to extend his hitting streak to 27 games — even though the Indians walked him six times (twice intentionally) in 13 plate appearances over the weekend.
When the streak reached 25 games, I wrote about Bradley’s incredible ability to hit absolutely everything that opposing pitchers are trying to use against him, and the extraordinary place that his streak holds among other Red Sox streaks of 25 or more games.
Here’s the updated view of his performance against each of the six pitch types he’s faced during the streak.
Bradley is now hitting .408/.487/.786 with eight homers and 18 extra-base hits during the streak. His 1.273 OPS during the stretch is the highest of any Red Sox hitting streak of at least 25 games in at least the last 100 years.
Yet in more ways than one, the walks were the most notable aspect of Bradley’s weekend. Lengthy hitting streaks are more often the province of aggressive than selective hitters, if only because it’s exceedingly difficult to get hits with regularity when the number of opportunities to put the bat on the ball is diminished by free passes — particularly for someone like Bradley, whose streak is occurring from the bottom half of the Red Sox lineup.
When Nomar Garciaparra had a 26-game hitting streak in 2003, for example, he walked just four times over the entirety of it. Bradley exceeded that total over the weekend.
Bradley now has 14 walks during his hitting streak, having accepted free passes in roughly one of every eight plate appearances over these 27 games. His .487 OBP during the run is the third highest by any player over the course of a hitting streak of 25 or more games since 2000, behind only Ortiz (.504 during a 27-gamer that spanned the conclusion of his 2012 season and the start of 2013) and Ian Kinsler (.508 during a 25-game run in 2008).
Bradley is not selling out his approach for the sake of his hitting streak. If anything, he’s improving it, having gone from a hitter who looked comfortable chiefly when jumping on pitches early in counts to one who looks at home regardless of the count.
It is a hitting streak, yet it is a run that now attests to far more than just Bradley’s ability to get the bat on the ball.
Alex Speier can be reached at alex.speier@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexspeier.