Seattle Mariners pitcher George Kirby set a Major League Baseball record on Wednesday with 24 consecutive strikes to start a game against the Washington Nationals.
The 24-year-old American right-hander, who only made his MLB debut in May, didn’t figure in the decision in Seattle’s 3-1 home loss to the Nationals.
But he made his mark at the start with 24 throws for strikes, breaking the old mark of 21 strikes to begin a game set by Pittsburgh’s Joe Musgrove on August 30, 2018.
Atlanta’s Ervin Santana threw 20 at the start of a game in 2014, the only other MLB pitcher to reach 20 since MLB began tracking pitches in 1988.
Only one of Kirby’s record run of 24 pitches was outside the strike zone but the ball, low and away to Washington’s C.J. Abrams, was smacked for an infield single to sustain the streak.
Pitches that result in hits or outs, regardless of where they are located compared to the strike zone, are considered strikes. Only pitches declared balls by the home-plate umpire are ball.
Kirby’s first non-strike was a fastball to Joey Meneses with one out in the third inning.
For the game, Kirby struck out nine Washington batters and allowed one run on eight hits over seven innings.
© Agence France-Presse
