Washington Nationals ace Max Scherzer got his 2,000th career strikeout Sunday and did it in the third fewest innings of any pitcher in baseball history.

Scherzer reached the milestone by striking out outfielder Nomar Mazara, the first batter he faced in the fourth inning of the Nats' game against the Texas Rangers.

"It's really cool,'' said Scherzer, who also has two no-hitters, a 20-strikeout game and an NL Cy Young Award since joining Washington before the 2015 season. "But one of these days, I'll actually reflect on it. It stings a little bit when you get it in a loss. But you just keep marching on.''

The Washington righty tied Nolan Ryan for third fastest to 2,000 strikeouts by games with both doing so in 287, which actually puts them 10 games behind Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, who is in second by games, and Randy Johnson, who has the games record at 262.

Pedro Martinez (1,711 1/3) and Johnson (1,733 1/3) are first and second in speed to 2,000 K's by innings pitched.

Scherzer finished with 10 strikeouts Sunday for a total of 2,005 career strikeouts but he was outpitched by Austin Bibens-Dirkx and took the loss as the Rangers beat the Nationals 5-1 to sweep their weekend series.

With the loss, Scherzer's record dropped to 7-4 this season. He has a 2.36 ERA.