Vintage Jacob deGrom is a wonderful thing to see. Rangers fans haven’t been fortunate to see it that often this year. But it’s still there. And when it comes out of hiding, it’s remarkable. 

The Washington Nationals are the best hitting team in baseball. They came into Arlington and were shutout twice, last night by a brilliant Jacob deGrom. 

Six shutout innings, giving up just one lousy hit, striking out ten. He came into the game needing just two strikeouts to reach 2,000 for his career. Two batters into the game, he got that. Then kept going, and going, ending with 2,008 career strikeouts. DeGrom is the second fastest pitcher to reach 2,000 career strikeouts in two ways.

Second fewest games played: 272 games to Randy Johnson’s 262. Second fewest innings pitched: 1,661 innings to Chris Sale’s 1,626. His first career strikeout was Mark Tiexiera in 2014. 

It was vintage deGrom, in a season where he has struggled to maintain that level of excellence. And it propelled the Rangers to a 2-0 win, a series win, and leapfrogging them back into a tie for the third wildcard spot. 

*****