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Orioles' Chris Davis Ends Hitless Streak

SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:

Yesterday afternoon, Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis ended a Major League Baseball record-breaking streak - a streak no baseball player ever wants to be part of. When he stepped to the plate in the first inning at Fenway Park in Boston, Davis had gone 0 for 54. He hadn't gotten a hit since last September. Then with a count of one ball and no strikes, Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello offered him up something - a thigh-high fastball on the inside corner of the plate.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Porcello out of the full windup - Davis is going to get one. Base hit into right field. Mancini will score. Smith will score. RBIs - one and two. And for Chris Davis, it's over, baby.

PFEIFFER: Even though Davis was playing in a hostile territory of Fenway, the crowd joined the announcers in the excitement of seeing his burden finally lifted. And then, kind of as a joke or maybe not, Davis did what most major leaguers do when they've reached a milestone. He asked for the ball.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.