DENVER (AP) — New York Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom struck out nine straight batters against Colorado on Saturday, falling one shy of matching the major league record set 51 years earlier by Mets great Tom Seaver.
DeGrom became just the ninth pitcher to strike out as many as nine in a row.
He started the streak with a called third strike against Josh Fuentes for the first out of the second inning, then got Sam Hillard and Dom Nunez swinging.
He struck out Chi Chi González, Raimel Tapia and Ryan McMahon in the third, and Trevor Story, Charlie Blackmon and C.J. Cron in the fourth.
Fuentes grounded an 0-1 pitch leading off the fifth and reached on a throwing error by second baseman Jeff McNeil, ending the streak.
Detroit reliever Tyler Alexander was the previous pitcher to strike out nine in a row, accomplishing the feat last Aug. 2 against Cincinnati.
Seaver set the record against San Diego on April 22, 1970, striking out his final 10 batters in a 19-strikeout performance.
Colorado took a 3-1 lead against deGrom later in the fifth when Nunez hit an RBI triple, pinch-hitter Yonathan Daza hit a sacrifice fly and Tapia homered. All three runs were unearned because of McNeil’s error.
DeGrom struck out 12 through five innings.
Despite deGrom’s 2.06 ERA in 78 starts since the start of the 2018 season coming in, New York was 36-42 with him on the mound.
With nine strikeouts in a row, deGrom matched the New York Giants’ Mickey Welch against Cleveland on Aug. 28, 1884, San Diego’s Jake Peavy at Arizona on April 25, 2007, the Marlins' Ricky Nolasco at Atlanta on Sept. 30, 2009, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Aaron Harang against San Diego on April 13, 2012, Detroit’s Doug Fister against Kansas City on Sept. 27, 2012, Washington’s Max Scherzer against the Mets on Oc. 3, 2015, and Alexander.
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