DeGrom records 9 straight strikeouts, narrowly misses Seaver's record

The deGrominator came oh so close to finally catching Tom Terrific.

New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom struck out nine consecutive Colorado Rockies batters on Saturday, a run that left him one shy of fellow Mets icon Tom Seaver's longstanding major-league record.

DeGrom's streak ended on the first batter of the fifth inning when Josh Fuentes hit a ground ball to second baseman Jeff McNeil, who promptly threw it away, allowing Fuentes to reach. The Rockies quickly cashed in on the miscue, scoring twice off deGrom in the fifth to take a 2-1 lead, although the Mets came back to win the first game of the doubleheader 4-3.

Although he missed out on one of baseball's most hallowed single-game records, deGrom became just the ninth MLB pitcher to record nine straight strikeouts.

DeGrom recovered and eventually struck out 14 batters over six innings. It was his second consecutive start with 14 strikeouts, the 20th time that's happened since 1901, according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com.

Seaver, who's widely considered the greatest player in Mets history and one of the best pitchers ever, became the only hurler to notch 10 straight strikeouts on April 22, 1970.