Jacob deGrom on Wednesday suffered a hard-luck loss, dropping his record to 2-2 despite a minuscule 0.51 ERA. But he also reached 59 strikeouts on the season, matching the MLB record for most in the first five starts of a season. He shares that record with Nolan Ryan, who knew something about little run support with the 1978 Angels.
This was Ryan’s seventh year with the Angels, and the club finished with a losing record in each of his first six seasons. But the Halos were on the upswing in 1978, and would win 87 games, a stepping stone year to finally winning the division the next year.