The Phillies and Mets took took Citi Field for a doubleheader Friday afternoon and Phillies ace Aaron Nola was sure ready to storm out of the proverbial gate.
After he hit Mets leadoff man Jeff McNeil with the third pitch of the game and gave up a double to Francisco Lindor, Nola took control of his opposition. Nola would go on to strike the next 10 Mets out. That tied the 51-year-old Major League Baseball record, held by the late great Tom Seaver, then with the Mets.
Here are all 10 for your viewing pleasure:
Pete Alonso followed the record-tying strikeout with a double in the fourth inning.
Nola would later help himself by driving home a run to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead. It's too bad this is a seven-inning doubleheader, because Nola was locked in enough to rack up 11 strikeouts through four. The MLB record for strikeouts in a game is 20 and he could have made a run at this with a full nine innings.
Nola also set the Phillies franchise record with his 10 consecutive strikeouts. The previous Phillies record for consecutive strikeouts was seven (Steve Carlton, Curt Schilling and Jerad Eickhoff).
Prior to Friday, Nola was having a sub-par year, at least by his lofty standards. A former All-Star who has finished third (2018) and seventh (2020) before in Cy Young voting, Nola was 5-4 with a 4.22 ERA, 1.22 WHIP and 95 strikeouts in 85 1/3 innings before this start. He looked like his old self June 13 when he went 7 2/3 scoreless innings against the Yankees, but then last time out he was shelled -- six runs on six hits in 2 1/3 innings -- by the Giants. Perhaps now he'll remain on the track the rest of the season.
