Phillies’ Aaron Nola strikes out 10 straight Mets batters, ties MLB record

June 25 (UPI) — Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola recorded 10 straight strikeouts against the New York Mets on Friday, tying a MLB record that stood for more than five decades.

Nola equaled Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver, who fanned his final 10 hitters for the Mets in a 2-1 win over the San Diego Padres on April 22, 1970, at Shea Stadium in New York.

Seaver’s record for consecutive strikeouts held for 51 years until Nola struck out Michael Conforto to start the fourth inning in the first game of a doubleheader at Citi Field, which replaced Shea Stadium in 2009 on the same site in Queens.

“That’s pretty cool, being in a category with Tom,” Nola said after the game. “… Getting ahead in the count, 0-1, 0-2 and winning the 1-1 counts was big for me today. Then I could put them away with stuff.”

In the next at-bat after the Conforto strikeout, Mets slugger Pete Alonso halted Nola’s remarkable stretch of punchouts when he reached across the plate and poked a slider down the right-field line for a double. Nola had Alonso in a 1-2 count before the hit.

Nola said he wasn’t aware of how close he was to Seaver’s milestone until Alonso’s plate appearance.

“When Alonso was up I kind of knew because they were chanting, ‘Let’s go, Pete,’ so I knew something was going on,” Nola said.

Seven of Nola’s strikeouts during his streak were swinging. He caught Dominic Smith, James McCann and Taijuan Walker looking.

Nola notched his 19th career double-digit strikeout game — and third of this season — with the streak.

Despite Nola’s stellar outing, the Mets earned a 2-1 victory over the Phillies in the first game of the doubleheader.

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