As of Sunday afternoon, Dan Uggla's miracle streak is over.
Uggla came into action on Sunday riding a 33-game hitting streak, the longest in Atlanta Braves history. Starting for the Cubs was Matt Garza, and Uggla needed just one knock to carry his run through another weekend.
This time, though, he came up short. Uggla did make a contribution, when he drove home Michael Bourn in the bottom of the first with a sacrifice fly. But Uggla fouled out in the third, popped out in the fifth, and grounded out in the seventh. There was a chance he could get another opportunity in the ninth, but he was left standing in the hole when Martin Prado made the game's final out.
So for the first time since July 4, Dan Uggla went hitless. Over the course of his streak, he batted .377/.438/.762 with 49 hits and 15 home runs, lifting his OPS into the mid-.700s. Overall, he still hasn't been what the Braves were hoping he'd be, but his contract looks a lot better now than it did a month and a half ago.
Uggla's was the longest hitting streak in the majors in five years. It was tied for the 19th-longest in baseball history.