Rangers Ace Lands Pair of Career Milestones with One Strikeout

Jacob deGrom needed a reset of his last start against the New York Yankees earlier this week. He started that reset with a career milestone.

In the top of the first inning deGrom struck out Chicago Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki to end the frame. As he walked off the field, he did so with his 1,900th career strikeout.

Now, the Texas Rangers right-hander well off the career record set by former Rangers icon Nolan Ryan, who finished his legendary 26-year career with 5,714 strikeouts. In fact, 89 pitchers have struck out at least 2,000 batters in their career. He’s not there yet, but there are two significant milestones deGrom achieved in reaching 1,900.

Jacob deGrom’s Milestone Day

A big swing for Jacob deGrom's 1,900th career strikeout!@RangersSNtv | #MLB pic.twitter.com/8VanCgKKRo
— Victory+ (@victoryplustv) May 10, 2026

Per the Rangers, deGrom reached 1,900 strikeouts the second-fastest of any Major League pitcher in two significant ways — games and innings pitched.

When it comes to game pitched, Sunday was deGrom’s 256th game. The only starting pitcher to do that quicker was Randy Johnson, who like Ryan is in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Johnson has the second-most strikeouts in MLB history with 4,875 and is one of four pitchers with at least 4,000 strikeouts.

When it comes to innings pitched, He reached that strikeout in 1,577.1 innings. The only pitcher to do that faster is Chris Sale, who is now with the Atlanta Braves. He reached the mark in 1,560.1 innings. Sale is 28th on the all-time list with 2,635 strikeouts.

The start of the game was welcome for deGrom, who had his worst start of the season his last time out against the New York Yankees on Monday. He worked 6.1 innings but allowed seven hits and six earned runs as he struck out seven and walked one.

deGrom had his longest outing of the season. He went seven innings, giving up three hits and no walks in a game Texas won, 3-0. He also struck out 10 hitters.

Before that, he had one of the best Aprils in baseball, even though he won only two of his five starts. The other three were no-decisions. In five starts and 26.2 innings he only allowed four earned runs, as he struck out 33 and walked seven.

Texas has set its rotation for the upcoming series with Arizona. Nathan Eovaldi will pitch on Monday, followed by MacKenzie Gore and then Kumar Rocker. deGrom will get an extra day off between starts as the Rangers have Thursday off before a nine-game road trip. deGrom is likely to start on Saturday in Houston against the Astros, which will be facing Texas after they play a four-game series against AL rival Seattle.

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