Jacob deGrom reached 2,000 career strikeouts in the second-fewest games and innings pitched in major league history when the Texas Rangers’ right-hander fanned the first two batters among his 10 K’s in a 2-0 win over the Washington Nationals on Thursday night.

DeGrom struck out Daylen Lile and Abimelec Ortiz, both chasing strike three on sliders below the zone. DeGrom received a standing ovation and acknowledged the applause by tapping his cap over his heart.

The two-time Cy Young Award winner said the achievement was “cool” but added he likely won’t reflect on it or other personal milestones until he’s done pitching.

“Maybe whenever my career is over I’ll look at that kind of stuff,” he said. “But even when the season’s over, I’m like, ‘I’ve got to figure out a way to get outs the following year.'”

DeGrom (9-8, 3.77 ERA) allowed a second-inning single and a fifth-inning walk, both to Brady House, in six shutout innings while throwing 94 pitches. He struck out the side in the fourth, and his 10 strikeouts matched a season best.

DeGrom was pulled from his previous start on Aug. 13 after only two innings because of triceps fatigue. Texas manager Skip Schumaker was among those who feared deGrom would go on the injured list. Instead, his start against Washington was pushed back one day.

“It was vintage deGrom,” Schumaker said.

The two-time National League Cy Young Award winner reached the milestone in just 1,660⅓ innings over 272 starts since his big league debut in 2014. Chris Sale holds the record by innings at 1,626, with deGrom surpassing Yu Darvish (1,697⅓) for second.

Hall of Fame pitcher Randy Johnson got his 2,000th strikeout in his 262nd game for the quickest by games, with deGrom moving ahead of Clayton Kershaw’s 277.

At 38, deGrom is the ninth active player and 94th all time to reach the milestone, joining Kevin Gausman, Sonny Gray and Aaron Nola as pitchers to do it this season.

Entering the game, deGrom had 147 strikeouts in 120⅔ innings this season.

After his Cy Young Awards with the New York Mets in 2018 and 2019, and the pandemic-shortened 2020 season when he led the National League in strikeouts for the second year in a row, deGrom made only 35 starts total from 2021 to 2024 because of a series of injuries. He missed most of 2023 and 2024 because of elbow surgery after making only six starts in his first season with Texas.

The active leader with 3,554 strikeouts is Justin Verlander, who at 43 is the oldest player in the majors and is retiring after this season. He has made only one start this year for Detroit, on March 30 before going on the injured list because of left hip inflammation. He then sustained a left hamstring strain during a bullpen session in mid-June.

Verlander is eighth on the career list, 20 behind Hall of Famer Don Sutton for seventh. The strikeout king is Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan, who had 5,714 over 27 seasons before he retired in 1993 at age 46.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.