Rangers right-handed pitcher Jacob deGrom recorded his 2,000th career strikeout in the first inning of Thursday’s game vs. the Washington Nationals at Globe Life Field. He struck out the first two batters he faced to reach the mark and got Nationals first baseman Abimelic Ortiz, a former Rangers farmhand, to swing-and-miss at a slider in the dirt for the milestone punchout.
The Globe Life Field crowd offered deGrom, who reached the milestone in his 272nd career appearance, a standing ovation after the video board displayed a graphic of the feat.
He’s the second-fastest player to reach the milestone by games played (it took Hall of Famer Randy Johnson only 262 games) and by innings pitched (it took Atlanta Braves ace Chris Sale only 1,626 innings to deGrom’s 1,661). He’s the third pitcher to do so in a Rangers uniform, alongside Ferguson Jenkins (Aug. 31, 1974) and Cole Hamels (June 12, 2016), and he’s just the 95th player in big league history to reach that threshold.