Madison Bumgarner Reaches 2000 Strikeouts
Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander Madison Bumgarner became the newest member of the 2000 Strikeout Club Wednesday afternoon against the San Diego Padres. It came in the bottom of the fourth inning, as Bumgarner fanned Luke Voit with a high fastball for the second out. Bumgarner is now one of only four active left-handers with 2000 strikeouts. (Clayton Kershaw, Chris Sale, David Price)
Strikeout Milestones along the Way
The San Francisco Giants drafted Madison Bumgarner with the 10th overall pick of the 2007 MLB June Amateur Draft. He came straight out of South Caldwell High School in Hudson, North Carolina. After two dominant seasons in the minors, where he quickly rose to Double-A, the Giants called Bumgarner up in September 2009. He made his major league debut on September 8, starting for the Giants against the Padres at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco. His first strikeout victim was the first hitter of the third inning — pitcher Kevin Correia. Correia was one of four victims that Tuesday evening, a 4–3 Padres victory. Bumgarner lasted 5 1/3 innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits with four strikeouts, a walk, and two solo home runs. He left the game with the lead but gained a “no decision” thanks to two late-inning Padre runs.
Bumgarner struck out his 100th batter on April 11, 2011 at AT&T Park against the Los Angeles Dodgers. It came when Juan Uribe swung and missed on 1–2, making the first out of the second inning. Number 500 came April 19, 2013, also in San Francisco, against the Padres. Yonder Alonso swung and missed on 2–2 in the top of the fourth, the fifth of ten victims for Bumgarner that night.
Two years later, Bumgarner whiffed his 1000th on June 28, 2015 against the Colorado Rockies. Once again, he did it in San Francisco. It came on the second out of the second inning as Brandon Barnes went down swinging. Number 1500 also came against the Rockies in San Francisco, when Bumgarner locked up leadoff man DJ LeMahieu for the first out of the game on June 27, 2018.
His 2000th strikeout was the first of the listed milestones to come as a member of the Diamondbacks. Each of the previous ones came while he was with the Giants.
Main Photo:
Players/managers mentioned:
Madison Bumgarner, Luke Voit, Kevin Correia, Juan Uribe, Yonder Alonso, Brandon Barnes, DJ LeMahieu, Clayton Kershaw, Chris Sale, David Price
Correction Note: The original title incorrectly said Bumgarner was the 84th pitcher with 2000 or more strikeouts. After consulting Stathead, we have corrected the headline to indicate that he is the 86th. LWOB regrets the error.
