ST. PETERSBURG -- Logan Gilbert joined an exclusive Mariners club on Saturday against the Rays. And he had the pleasure of doing it in front of loved ones.
The right-hander became the fifth pitcher in franchise history to reach 1,000 strikeouts when he got Jonny DeLuca to tip an 87.9 mph slider into Cal Raleigh’s glove to begin the bottom of the second inning at Tropicana Field.
Gilbert, a Florida native who was born and raised a few hours north of the Rays’ home park, received an ovation from his friends and family who were sitting near Seattle’s dugout.
Gilbert joins Félix Hernández, Randy Johnson, Jamie Moyer and Mark Langston in Seattle’s 1,000 strikeouts club.
After debuting in 2021, Gilbert has recorded at least 170 strikeouts in each of the past four seasons. His 870 strikeouts since the start of 2022 entering Saturday were the fourth-most in the Majors, trailing only Dylan Cease (1,028), Kevin Gausman (901) and Zack Wheeler (892).
The No. 14 overall selection by Seattle in the 2018 MLB Draft out of Stetson University, Gilbert entered his matchup against the AL East-leading Rays with a 1.78 ERA and 57 strikeouts across 50 2/3 innings in his previous eight starts. Seattle won seven of those eight games.