The first time Bartolo Colon faced the Atlanta Braves was 14 years ago on July 2, 2002, when he was with the Montreal Expos. That was his National League debut, and, despite facing a lineup that included menacing sluggers like Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Gary Sheffield and Javy Lopez, the 29-year-old threw seven innings of two-run ball, allowing just five hits.
Fast forward to present day and the Braves do not have nearly the lineup that they did during their glory years. All those names are gone. Colon has survived and he continues to dominate Atlanta. He twirled a gem at Citi Field on Monday just about three weeks shy of his 43rd birthday. The righty scattered seven hits over eight innings of shutout ball, lowering his career ERA against the Braves to 2.44 in 12 starts. He didn’t get any hits of his own, but he did smash a line drive just foul that went 101.9 mph down the line. The man is a menace.
The Braves threatened early on, registering two hits apiece in each of the first three innings. They had several opportunities with runners in scoring position, but Colon stemmed the tide. He struck out Adonis Garcia with Freddie Freeman on second base to end the first, did not permit A.J. Pierzynski to score after a leadoff double in the second and induced a pop-up from the catcher to strand a pair of runners at the end of the third. It was smooth sailing from then on, as Colon retired 15 of the last 16 hitters he faced and finished his outing with just 99 pitches.
Colon had the advantage of pitching with a comfortable early lead, too. Bud Norris was given the boot from the rotation in favor of 24-year-old Mike Foltynewicz, who made his first start of 2016 at the major-league level. The former top 100 prospect has struggled across two seasons, and the Mets didn’t make his young career any easier tonight. It was bombs away from the get-go.
With one out in the first, David Wright blasted a home run to left-center field into the bleachers to put the Mets on top, 1-0. Michael Conforto then lined a hit to right field and Yoenis Cespedes followed with a clout of his own, his eighth dinger of the year. Offering no respite, Lucas Duda went back-to-back with Cespedes by launching one off the facing of the second deck in right field, giving Colon a 4-0 lead and leaving the soon-to-be 6-19 Braves skipper Fredi Gonzalez in a catatonic state:
Poor guy.
The Mets were held scoreless for the rest of the night, though Curtis Granderson and Asdrubal Cabrera registered multi-hit games. Terry Collins called on Jeurys Familia to finish off the game and though he did allow the Braves to break up the shutout with a two-out RBI single by Erick Aybar, a fly ball to left field from former teammate Kelly Johnson ended it. That clinched a nice personal milestone for Colon, who broke a tie with Pedro Martinez for second place all-time among Dominican-born pitchers with 220 wins, trailing only Hall of Famer Juan Marichal. Wins can be a silly statistic, but the achievement certainly meant a lot for the 19-year veteran.
With the 4-1 victory, the Mets moved to 16-8 on the season. They will send Matt Harvey to the hill tonight against another recent top 100 prospect, Matt Wisler.
Photo credit: Anthony Gruppuso – USA Today Sports