Gerrit Cole of Newport Beach, CA made Major League Baseball history on Wednesday when he recorded his 300th strikeout of the season. Cole becomes only the 18th Major League Baseball pitcher ever to record the feat as he did it in a 3-2 Astros win over the Texas Rangers.
In recording his 18th win of the season, Cole had 10 strikeouts in eight innings of work. It was the 19th time this season that Cole has recorded in the double digits when it comes to strikeouts.
Also on Wednesday, Cole only gave up two earned runs for his 25th quality start of the season. He only gave up six hits and one walk as the Astros clinched a playoff spot in the American League.
On the season, Cole has a record of 18 wins and five losses, an earned run average of 2.61 and a WHIP of 0.91. In 200.333 innings of work, Cole has only given up 136 hits, 58 earned runs and 46 walks. He also leads Major League Baseball with 302 strikeouts.
Two pitchers had 300 strikeouts in a season six times. They were Nolan Ryan of Refugio, TX and Randy Johnson of Walnut Creek, CA. Ryan accomplished the feat with the California Angels in 1972 (329 strikeouts), 1973 (383 strikeouts), 1974 (367 strikeouts), 1976 (327 strikeouts), 1977 (341 strikeouts) and once with the Texas Rangers in 1989 (301 strikeouts). Johnson achieved the mark with the Seattle Mariners in 1993 (308 strikeouts), with the Mariners and Houston Astros in 1998 (329 strikeouts), with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 1999 (364 strikeouts), in 2000 (347 strikeouts), in 2001 (372 strikeouts) and 2002 (334 strikeouts).
Curt Schilling of Anchorage, AK had 319 strikeouts with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1997, 300 strikeouts with the Phillies in 1998 and 316 strikeouts with the Diamondbacks in 2002. Sandy Koufax of Brooklyn, NY had 306 strikeouts with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1963, 382 strikeouts with the Dodgers in 1965 and 317 strikeouts with the Dodgers in 1966.
The other 13 players with 300 strikeouts in a season were Pedro Martinez (305 strikeouts with the Montreal Expos in 1997 and 313 strikeouts with the Boston Red Sox in 1999), J.R. Richard of Vienna, LA (303 strikeouts in 1978 and 313 strikeouts with the Astros in 1979), Sam McDowell of Pittsburgh, PA (325 strikeouts in 1965 and 304 strikeouts in 1970 with the Cleveland Indians), Walter Johnson of of Humboldt, KS (313 strikeouts in 1910 and 303 strikeouts in 1912 with the Washington Senators), Rube Waddell of Bradford, PA (302 strikeouts in 1903 and 349 strikeouts in 1904 with the Philadelphia Athletics), Max Scherzer of St. Louis, MO (300 strikeouts with the Washington Nationals in 2018), Chris Sale of Lakeland, FL (308 strikeouts with the Boston Red Sox in 2017), Clayton Kershaw of Dallas, TX (301 strikeouts with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2015), Mike Scott of Santa Monica, CA (306 strikeouts with the Houston Astros in 1986), Steve Carlton of Miami, FL (310 strikeouts with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1972), Mickey Lolich of Portland, OR (308 strikeouts with the Detroit Tigers in 1971), Vida Blue of Mansfield, LA (301 strikeouts with the Oakland Athletics in 1971) and Bob Feller of Van Meter, IA (348 strikeouts with the Cleveland Indians in 1946).
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