Stirrup-Wearing Roger Clemens Strikes Out 20 Batters: This Day in Sports History

data-mm-id=”_nfiwx1kac”>Roger Clemens showed flashes of brilliance during his first two Major League seasons, compiling a 16-7 record and 3.88 ERA. The 22-year-old won his first three starts in 1986 and took the hill full of confidence 34 years ago tonight against a woeful Seattle Mariners club. It would prove to be the first of many explosive launches for Rocket.Clemens fanned the side in order in the first and picked up two more in the second and one in the fourth. Then he ripped off a stretch where eight consecutive outs came via the strikeout, moving his in-game total to 14 through six innings.With the MLB record of 19 firmly in reach, the fireballer notched two each in the seventh and eighth with impossibly unhittable stuff. Clemens tied the mark by dusting Spike Owen and broke it…