Colon gets 243rd career win when Rangers beat A’s 8-2

Published 2:56 am Thursday, June 7, 2018

ARLINGTON (AP) — Bartolo Colon worked five innings for his 243rd career victory, matching Hall of Fame pitcher Juan Marichal for the most by a player born in the Dominican Republic when the Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics 8-2 on Wednesday night.

The 45-year-old Colon (3-3), in his fourth attempt at the milestone victory, got it against one of the 10 other major league teams he has pitched for since his big league debut in 1997 with Cleveland. He allowed two runs with one strikeout and two walks.

Jurickson Profar homered twice, while Joey Gallo and Ronald Guzman also went deep for the Rangers in the first four innings against Oakland right-handed starter Daniel Mengden (6-5). Profar had his first multihomer game, and added a two-run single in the seventh for a careerhigh five RBIs.

Colon held the A’s scoreless until Khris Davis hit his 15th homer, a two-run shot that made it 6-2 with two outs in the fifth. After getting an inning-ending flyball on his 97th pitch, Colon did fist-bumps with teammates in the dugout.

The well-liked portly right-hander known as “Big Sexy” went to spring training with the Rangers on a minor league deal, and eventually agreed to another minor league deal before starting their fifth game. Colon has appeared in 13 games, with 11 starts in a rotation missing injured Martin Perez after earlier disabled list stints by starters Doug Fister and Matt Moore.

Colon leads all active pitchers with 243 wins and 3,383 2-3 innings pitched. His 2,499 strikeouts are third among active pitchers, behind CC Sabathia and Justin Verlander — all three are former AL Cy Young Award winners. Nicaragua’s Dennis Martinez, with 245 wins, is the only Latin American native with more wins than Colon.

Texas led 3-0 in the first after Profar hit a two-run shot and Gallo immediately followed with his 17th homer. Both also homered Tuesday night, when the Rangers went deep a season-high five times against Oakland.

Profar hit another in the third, giving him homers in three consecutive at-bats. He walked in his final plate appearance Tuesday after his sixth-inning homer then. Guzman’s two-run homer in the fourth made it 6-0.

ASTROS 7, MARINERS 5

HOUSTON (AP) — Evan Gattis hit a two-run homer early and Yuli Gurriel added a two-RBI single in a four-run seventh inning that lifted the Houston Astros to a 7-5 win over the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night.

The victory ends a threegame skid for Houston and snaps a five-game winning streak by the Mariners.

The Astros led 3-1 after four, but had fallen behind 4-3 entering the seventh after the Mariners got a run in sixth and tacked on two more in the seventh.

Tony Kemp, who finished with three hits, got things going in the seventh with a single off Juan Nicasio (1-3) before a double by George Springer. The Astros tied it when Kemp scored on an infield single by Alex Bregman. Jose Altuve followed with a single to left field to send Springer home and put Houston up 5-4.

Dan Altavilla took over and struck out Carlos Correa before a passed ball by catcher Mike Zunino allowed both runners to advance a base. Gurriel then pushed his hitting streak to a career-high 12 games with a single to center field that made it 7-4.