Washington Nationals at Texas Rangers

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 rolled past 2,000 and tied a season high with 10 strikeouts on the evening, tossing six scoreless frames with just one hit allowed in the Rangers’ 2-0 win over the Nationals. “It was very cool,” deGrom said. “Obviously I've said it before, personal accomplishments are cool, but the goal is to win. The most important thing tonight was to go out there and put us in a position to win. I go out there and try to leave it all out on the field. That’s how I've always played the game. If I can walk in here, if I can look myself in the mirror and say I gave 100%, then I can live with what happened. I'm proud of this accomplishment, but we’ve still got work to do as a team.” deGrom finished the night with 2,008 career strikeouts, yielding just one hit and one walk, both by Brady House. It was his third career start of six or more scoreless innings, one or fewer hits and 10 or more strikeouts, the previous two coming during his time with the Mets. The milestone means a lot in the context of his career. But maybe even more in the context of his season, as the Rangers continue their postseason push. deGrom wants to win. This accomplishment is only a step toward that ultimate goal. “He's a legend,” catcher Danny Jansen said. “He's an ultimate competitor. He's fearless on the mound. It's definitely special. He's a legend in the game. And it's cool to be a part of that. … If you watch his reaction, he took a little bit, a couple hat tips and stuff. I think that really sunk in right there a little bit. But then you have to go and continue on right after that. He's a team guy, and I really do believe that. But this is a pretty special feat and accomplishment.”