ARLINGTON, Texas (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 career-high 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.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Athletics: OF Matt Joyce, who hasn’t played since leaving in the fifth inning of Saturday night’s game at Kansas City, was put on the 10-day DL with a lower back strain. … OF Stephen Piscotty was out of the lineup, a day after coming out of Tuesday’s game early with left quad soreness.
Rangers: 3B Adrian Beltre was out of the starting lineup for the second time in six days since coming off the DL (left hamstring strain) for the second time this year. Beltre will likely DH on Thursday. “Just easing him back into it,” manager Jeff Banister said.
UP NEXT
Athletics: Oakland is back home Thursday to start a 10-game homestand. RHP Frankie Montas (2-0) goes against Kansas City.
Rangers: Cole Hamels (3-5), with a 2.89 ERA his last seven starts, pitches for Texas on Thursday night in the opener of a four-game home series against Houston. The lefty threw six scoreless innings against the Astros on May 11.
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