The Modesto Nuts found a way to stop Jamie McOwen Friday night.McOwen, an outfielder with the Seattle Mariners' Class A affiliate High Desert Mavericks, had his California League-record 45-game hitting streak snapped in the Mavericks' 2-0 defeat at Modesto. McOwen finished his two-month journey with the eighth-longest hit streak in minor league history.
The left-handed hitting McOwen went 0-for-3 with a walk against the Nuts, but it wasn't without drama.
For the eighth time during the streak, McOwen had a chance to keep his streak alive his final at-bat. But Modesto reliever Craig Baker, who is 22-for-22 in save opportunities, fanned McOwen swinging for the second out in the top of the ninth inning.
Modesto became the first team to hold McOwen hitless since he went 0-for-5 at Lake Elsinore on May 8.
McOwen, 23, a former sixth-round selection of the Seattle Mariners in the 2007 draft out of Florida International University in Miami, never got on track after taking a game off on Thursday.
He reached on a fielder's choice bunt in the top of the first, walked in the fourth and bounced into a double-play in the sixth. McOwen didn't have any better luck in the ninth and was unable to extend his march into history.
Wichita's Joe Wilhoit hit in a record 69 straight minor-league games in 1919. Joe DiMaggio, who hit in a major league-record 56 consecutive games in 1941, has the second-longest minor-league streak with 61 games for the San Francisco Seals in 1933. The previous California League hit streak record was 35 games.
McOwen's 45-game hit streak places him behind Johnny Bates, who hit safely in 46 consecutive games in 1925 for Nashville.
McOwen has a team-best .351 average for High Desert, batting .459 (17 of 37) in his last 10 games. In his three seasons at FIU, McOwen hit .372, good for third on FIU's all-time career mark. In 2007, McOwen hit .414, which is the fourth-best total in FIU history.
