Giants’ Justin Verlander becomes 10th pitcher to join 3,500K club

Major League Baseball’s 3,500-strikeout club now has a 10th member: Justin Verlander.

The San Francisco Giants’ Justin Verlander registered three whiffs in the top of the first inning against the visiting Washington Nationals on Sunday that not only allowed the 42-year-old to escape a jam, but also to record the 3,500th strikeout of his Hall of Fame career.

After Verlander fanned Nathaniel Lowe to wriggle out of a two-on, two-out situation in the first, the three-time Cy Young Award winner earned a standing ovation as the Giants displayed a congratulatory message on the Oracle Park jumbotron.

Justin Verlander finished the day with 3,503 strikeouts as he posted six strikeouts over five innings while allowing five runs on 11 hits. Now in his 20th season, Verlander entered Sunday’s series finale with a 263-155 record and a 3.33 ERA spread across 3,510 innings and 545 games (all starts).

He joins an exclusive club led by Nolan Ryan, who amassed 5,714 strikeouts during his 27-year career. Randy Johnson (4,875), Roger Clemens (4,672), Steve Carlton (4,136), Bert Blyleven (3,701), Tom Seaver (3,640), Don Sutton (3,574), Gaylord Perry (3,534) and Walter Johnson (3,509) also belong to the club.

Max Scherzer needs 44 strikeouts to become the 11th member of the group while Clayton Kershaw (3,017) and Chris Sale (2,528) are the only other active pitchers within 1,200 whiffs.

–Field Level Media

More on Justin Verlander & the SF Giants

James Wood had a pair of two-run doubles out of the leadoff spot, MacKenzie Gore combined with three relievers for a three-hitter and the Washington Nationals spoiled Justin Verlander’s strikeout milestone with an 8-0 thumping of the host San Francisco Giants on Sunday afternoon.

Making his 546th career start, Verlander (1-9) began the day three strikeouts shy of becoming 10th in major league history to reach 3,500 in his career. He did not take long to reach that mark, as he struck out three in the first inning and earned a standing ovation from the big crowd.

The rest of the afternoon’s highlights belonged to the Nationals, who scored four times in the second inning and never looked back en route to a second win in the three-game series. Wood’s first double opened the scoring with two outs, after which CJ Abrams bombed his 15th home run of the season for the 4-0 lead.

Paul DeJong made it 5-0 in the fourth and 6-0 in the sixth with a pair of RBI singles, before Wood completed the game’s scoring by driving in two with his second double in the seventh.

Justin Verlander was pulled after five innings, having served up five runs and 11 hits. He walked one and struck out six, giving him 3,503 for his career, six fewer than Walter Johnson, who currently resides in the No. 9 spot on the all-time list.

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Coming off a disastrous effort in which he was bombed for eight runs in three innings at home by the Athletics, Gore (5-12) struck out 10 in six shutout innings. He allowed just three hits — all singles — and one walk.

Nationals dominate Giants, Verlander reaches career milestone

When is the next San Francisco Giants game?

• Monday, August 11th – Wednesday, August 13th – vs. San Diego Padres
• Friday, August 15th – Sunday, August 17th – vs. Tampa Bay Rays
• Monday, August 18th – Thursday, August 21st – @ San Diego Padres
• Friday, August 22nd – Sunday, August 24th – @ Milwaukee Brewers
• Tuesday, August 26th – Thursday, August 28th – vs. Chicago Cubs

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