Mets' Jacob deGrom 3rd in Franchise History with 2 11-K Outings in 1st 11 Starts

With an 8-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night, rookie pitcher Jacob deGrom of the New York Mets emerged victorious after striking out 11 batters over seven shutout innings, improving his record to 2-5 on the season. In the process, deGrom became just the third Mets pitcher to fan 11 or more batters twice in the first 11 starts of his career, per ESPN Stats & Info.

The 26-year-old deGrom joins some impressive company in this club, as only Nolan Ryan and Dwight Gooden have struck out 11 batters as a Met in their first 11 MLB starts.

Gooden eventually went on to strike out 1,875 batters while in a Mets uniform, placing him second on the all-time franchise list. Ryan went on to become one of the best pitchers in baseball history, as he eventually ended up as baseball's all-time strikeout leader with 5,714 K's.

Like the aforementioned pitchers, deGrom has been using the strikeout to his advantage during his time in the majors.

The right-hander's current 8.6 K/9 rate is actually higher than any season he's put together in the minors, per Baseball-Reference. His 2-5 record doesn't tell the entire story, as the rookie has exceeded expectations thus far in 2014, with a 3.38 ERA and 64:26 K:BB ratio over 66.2 innings for the Mets.

Although Tuesday's win was deGrom's first victory since June 21, the game's ending proved to be another significant milestone in Mets history. Per ESPN Stats & Info, the victory was the team's 4,000th as a franchise, as deGrom once again cemented his name in team history during his rookie campaign.

All stats courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise specified.