KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chicago's Colson Montgomery tied Mark Reynolds' season record for strikeouts on Thursday, whiffing in the third inning for his 223rd in a game that Chicago was leading comfortably on its way to clinching a postseason berth.
The 24-year-old Montgomery began the day tied for second on the dubious list with former White Sox slugger Adam Dunn.
After a single in the first inning, Montgomery came to bat in the third and watched a 96
mph four-seam fastball from reliever Anthony Gose go past him for a called third strike. Montgomery flied out in his next two at-bats, and Luisangel Acuña replaced him as a pinch hitter in the ninth, leaving him tied for the record.
Reynolds needed 662 plate appearances to establish the long-held mark in 2009 with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Montgomery needed just 627 to tie it, and he still has a three-game series against the lowly Colorado Rockies this weekend in set a new mark.
Then again, Montgomery might not necessarily have the record at the end of the season. Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber, who played later Thursday against the Brewers, was sitting on 218. Philadelphia has three games against Tampa Bay this weekend.
Montgomery, a first-round pick in the 2021 amateur draft who made his big league debut last year, had mostly shrugged off the strikeout record as he approached it. He studiously pointed out that the sluggers near the top of the list also tend to hit a lot of home runs, and the 6-foot-3, 230-pound shortstop has been no different, hitting 31 of them while driving in 87 runs this season.
James Wood nearly broke Reynolds' record last year, striking out 221 times for the Nationals.
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