Chicago Cubs: Jon Lester records 2,000th strikeout, first career home run

Jon Lester didn’t qualify for the win tonight, but he still put on a performance for the ages.

A night that originally looked somewhat inauspicious turned into a landmark night by the fourth inning for Jon Lester.

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The veteran left-hander accomplished two major milestones tonight, eclipsing 2,000 strikeouts and hitting his first career big-league home run. In the process, he bounced back from what could have been a potentially tough night.

Working out of trouble in the first two innings—including a 12-pitch first at-bat and pitching around a bases-loaded jam in the second—Lester limited the Arizona Diamondbacks while his offense piled on the runs against Patrick Corbin. In fact, Lester singled in the second and scored on a sacrifice fly to help his own cause.

Then, with the Cubs up 6-0 in the third, he decided he wanted to drive a few in himself.

With Ian Happ on base, Lester crushed a 2-2 fastball into the left-center-field bleachers for a two-run shot off Corbin in the third inning, pushing the Cubs’ lead to 8-1. After a raucous ovation as he rounded the bases, his teammates pushed him out for the obligatory curtain call.

But he wasn’t finished there.

Lester, who struck out five of his first six hitters, fanned Jack Reinheimer to end the fourth to reach 2,000 strikeouts for his career. He became the 25^th left-handed pitcher in history to accomplish that feat. Not surprisingly, he’s also the first pitcher ever to get 2,000 strikeouts and his first home run in the same game.

In the end, it was a short night for Lester, whose pitch count had hit 97 by the time he struck out Reinheimer. He came out for the fifth inning before quickly surrendering three straight baserunners and his second run of the game before exiting with four innings completed. As such, he did not qualify for the win.

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Nonetheless, Lester’s performance was both productive and historic. On one hand, he kept the Dodgers at bay despite landing in severe trouble early on. And on the other, he gave the fans—and himself—a night that he would never forget.