ARLINGTON -- For a brief moment in the middle of the first inning Thursday night, Jacob deGrom stood on the mound at Globe Life Field and tipped his hat to the crowd.
The Rangers’ ace opened the series finale against the Nationals with a pair of swinging strikeouts against Daylen Lile and former Texas farmhand Abimelec Ortiz, finally reaching the 2,000 benchmark after sitting on the precipice for his last two starts.
deGrom is the second-fastest pitcher in MLB history to 2,000 career strikeouts by both games (272, behind Randy Johnson’s 262) and innings pitched (1,661, behind Chris Sale’s 1,626).
deGrom is the 95th pitcher in MLB history with 2000 strikeouts, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He is the ninth active pitcher to reach the mark and the second this season, joining Philadelphia’s Aaron Nola, who hit the milestone Aug. 8.
He’s the third pitcher in Texas history (since 1972) to record his 2,000th career strikeout in a Rangers uniform, joining Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins (Aug. 31, 1974, against Cleveland at Arlington Stadium) and Cole Hamels (June 12, 2016, in Seattle), according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
“He's one of the best, in my opinion, to ever do it,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said Wednesday. "We need him for the next 35 games. We need our workhorses to give quality starts if we want to get to the postseason and have a chance.”