Colón Wins 200th Game as Mets Defeat the Phillies

Bartolo Colón has joined an elite Major League Baseball club…

The 41-year-old Dominican professional baseball pitcher for the New York Mets pitched eight innings for his 200th career victory, as the teamheld on for a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

Bartolo Colón

Colon joined Pedro Martinez and Juan Marichal as the only Dominican-born pitchers to reach 200 victories.

“I’m really happy to be in that category,” Colon said through an interpreter. “I’m expecting a call from those guys.”

He gave up one run and six hits, struck out six and walked none.

“It’s amazing that he’s still able to perform like he does,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “Two hundred wins, that’s a lot of wins.”

Colon (11-9) didn’t allow a batter to reach second base except for Byrd, who led off the seventh with a drive over the wall in left for his 22nd homer. Colon departed after throwing 107 pitches.

“He throws a lot of fastballs but he changes speeds with them making it difficult to gauge the velocity,” said Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg.

Philadelphia’s A.J. Burnett (6-12) surrendered 11 hits, tying a season high, resulting in five runs in his third consecutive loss. The right-hander struck out eight and walked two while falling to 0-4 with a 6.66 ERA in his last five starts.

The Mets nearly blew it in the ninth, when Philadelphia scored three runs on three hits.

Chase Utley doubled and Ryan Howard walked against left-hander Dana Eveland. Closer Jenrry Mejia relieved Eveland and Byrd singled to load the bases. Sizemore then lined a two-run double off the wall in right that trimmed New York’s lead to 5-3.

“I was praying for the ball to stay in the ballpark,” Colon said. “Thanks to Mejia for doing his job and holding his composure on the mound.”

After Cody Asche had a run-scoring groundout, Mejia struck out pinch-hitter Reid Brignac for his 17th save in 19 opportunities.

Liriano Agrees to Two-Year, $14 Million Deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates

Francisco Liriano will be living the life of a pirate next season…

The 29-year-old Dominican-born professional baseball player has reportedly agreed to a two-year, $14 million deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates, according to Minneapolis’ The Star Tribune.

Francisco Liriano

Following 5½ seasons with the Minnesota Twins, this will be Liriano’s third team in five months after being traded from the Twins to the Chicago White Sox in late July.

The left-handed starting pitcher was 6-12 with a 5.34 ERA in 2012.

He’s 53-54 with a 4.40 ERA in six full seasons.

Liriano pitched a no-hitter in May 2011 but failed to muster much success the rest of the season, finishing 9-10 with a 5.09 ERA.

He’ll join a Pirates rotation that includes A.J. Burnett, Wandy Rodriguez and James McDonald, who went a combined 33-22 for Pittsburgh in 2012.

Liriano is the Pirates’ second big free-agent acquisition of the past month; catcher Russell Martin signed a two-year, $17 million deal.

The Pirates hope Liriano and Martin can help get the team at least over .500. Their record string of losing seasons was extended to 20 this past season when they went from 16 games over .500 on Aug. 8 to a 79-83 finish, losing 35 of their last 50 games.