Justin Verlander's eighth strikeout tonight against the Chicago White Sox marked a milestone for the 28-year-old flamethrower -- his 1,000th career strikeout. Verlander's final pitch of the night -- his 117th -- got the hated A.J. Pierzynski swinging and added his name to the list of 444 other pitchers who have struck out 1,000 hitters throughout the course of their careers.
Verlander entered the game with 992 career strikeouts, 450th on the all-time strikeouts list. In tonight's game, he passed -- in order -- Joe Dobson, Scott Kazmir, Joel Pineiro, Sterling Hitchcock, Bill Lee, Bob Ewing, and Joey Jay. Verlander is now tied with Ralph Terry and Tom Browning.
Assuming Verlander strikes out 200-plus again this year, he could see himself jump all the way into the top 300 by season's end. Brad Penny is currently sitting at No. 306 all-time with 1,189 career strikeouts. Verlander is, oh, just 4,714 K's away from Nolan Ryan, who sits atop the list.