Zimmermann outduels Colon to delay Latin wins record

Bartolo Colon will have to wait.

The 45-year-old right-hander pitched a gem Friday night but the Rangers' offense was stifled by Tigers right-hander Jordan Zimmermann as Detroit evened the series with a 3-1 win at Comerica Park.

Colon, who is looking for career win No. 246, which would make him the all-time leader in wins by a native of Latin America, had the good stuff that has made him such a revelation for Texas in 2018.

He went eight innings — his longest outing of the season — but allowed two home runs, including a two-run homer to James McCann that erased the Rangers' 1-0 lead after Shin-Soo Choo led off the game with a solo homer to center.

But that was pretty much it against Zimmermann, 32, who struck out 11 in eight innings. The Rangers were held to five hits, including four against Zimmermann (4-0). It was his first game with 10 or more strikeouts since throwing a no-hitter against the Marlins in September 2014.

"Zimmermann was on his 'A' game today, especially with how he split the plate with his fastball and his slider," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. "The slider probably made the difference tonight. He was pretty sharp today. You tip your hat to a guy who makes his pitches. He knows how to pitch. He's been around a while."

So has Colon, of course, who threw 97 pitches, his most since throwing 97 against the A's a month ago. Except for the two home runs, the Tigers didn't exactly show a lot of hard contact. In five of his eight innings he retired the side in order.

He retired 11 of the last 12 batters he faced, with the exception being a solo homer to JaCoby Jones with two outs in the eighth.

"After the fourth inning, I don’t know why, but I felt stronger than I did in the beginning," said Colon, who dropped to 5-6 but lowered his ERA to 4.65. "Never in my life have I been bothered by a home run. I'm bothered most when I give up a walk."

Colon didn't walk anyone and struck out three. He held the opponents to three or fewer runs while going at least five innings for the 11th time in 16 starts. He's allowed 22 home runs in 95 2/3 innings this season, the second-most in the majors.

"If you leave the pitches in the middle you're going to pay for it," he said. "When both [pitchers] are pitching good it's good for us. It's not good for the hitters. My congratulations to him because he pitched better and that's why he won."

Zimmermann retired the last 11 batters he faced. After Choo's leadoff homer, he retired the next six and allowed three singles, none particularly well-hit. Choo also singled in the ninth to give the Rangers the leadoff hitter on but Joe Jimenez forced two groundouts and struck out Nomar Mazara to end the game after two hours five minutes, the shortest game of the season for both the Tigers and Rangers.

"[Colon] did everything he had to do to win that game," said catcher Robinson Chirinos, who was 0 for 3. "Unfortunately, we weren’t able to put an inning together as an offense. I don’t think [Zimmermann] missed any pitches tonight. He pretty much hit his spots with his slider, down and away, below the zone and that’s what he did with everybody. It was one of those nights. He beat us today."

A similar loss would have bothered Colon in the distant past. Not anymore.

"Before when I was young a loss like this bothered me. When you have more experience and after pitching this many times on the mound you know things like this are going to happen," he said.

This story was originally published July 6, 2018 at 10:03 PM.