WASHINGTON -- San Francisco Giants left-hander Randy Johnson notched his 300th career victory Thursday as the Giants took a 5-1 victory over the Washington Nationals in the first game of a doubleheader.
After a 36-minute rain delay before the start of the game, Johnson no-hit Washington for four innings until Elijah Dukes led off the Nationals' fifth with a single up the middle. Johnson yielded just one other hit, Nick Johnson's sixth-inning RBI double. Randy Johnson also walked two and struck out two in his six innings.
Johnson became the 24th pitcher to reach the 300-win level. The Nationals were a fitting opponent for Johnson, who started his professional career with that franchise when it was known as the Montreal Expos.
Johnson, 45, became just the sixth left-hander to achieve the 300 milestone and the fifth pitcher in the last 50 years to do it on his first attempt, joining Warren Spahn, Steve Carlton, Gaylord Perry and Tom Seaver.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Johnson also became the second-oldest pitcher to reach the 300 mark -- behind only Phil Niekro, who achieved the feat when he was 46 years and 188 days old on Oct. 6, 1985. Johnson is 45 years and 267 days old.
Johnson is the seventh pitcher in Giants history to win 300 games while pitching for the franchise at some point in his career. He was also be the fourth to hit that plateau as a Giant, joining Tim Keefe, Mickey Welch and Christy Mathewson.
Is Johnson the last 300-game winner?
Consider:
• When Roger Clemens pulled into the 300-win club on June 13, 2003, Greg Maddux sat on 278 wins.
• When Maddux crossed the threshold on Aug. 7, 2004, Tom Glavine had 259 victories, also in the neighborhood.
• And when Glavine got his 300th on Aug. 5, 2007, Johnson was at 284, although gripped by a recurrence of his back woes.
When Johnson became the 24th to reach the destination, there was no active pitcher on his trail.
The pitcher closest to him is Jamie Moyer, who has 250. And considering that 35 days lapsed between his 249th and 250th wins, the 46-year-old's career would not seem to have enough shelf life to sniff 300.
As for the younger set, we're looking at 36-year-olds Andy Pettitte and Pedro Martinez, who are at 220 and 214 wins, respectively.
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Source: MLB.com
46-year old Jamie Moyer has 250 wins.
- Photo2 by Tim Evearitt