Tuesday night in Arlington, Texas, Bartolo Colon, also known as “Big Sexy”, became the winningest Latin born pitcher in MLB history. He hit the mark after several failed tries over the past month or so.
“It was a long journey, but it finally came,” Colon said according to MLB.com. “And it feels good. I give thanks to my teammates, because after the fourth inning, I was feeling better, a lot better, they scored a lot of runs for me, so I thank God, thank my teammates, as always, because they did a lot of run support.”
Colon now sits on top of the list of all Latin born players. He has 246 wins. He has been playing major league ball for twenty-one years. It was a special thing to be a part of, according to Rangers manager Jeff Banister.
“I got to watch Bartolo in 1995 when he was a young guy with a blazing fastball that just wiped everybody out. Watched him throughout his career, been part of teams that have faced him. To be fortunate enough and blessed enough to be his manager for a period of time, to sit and watch, and to know what he means to a group of guys inside that clubhouse, number of teammates along the way. … They’re probably saluting and maybe even tipping a glass to him in congratulations.”
The Rangers celebrated the win and the milestone for Colon after defeating King Felix and the Mariners 11-4. King Felix did not have his best night, giving up all 11 runs, including a late inning home run from his buddy Adrian Beltre.
Colon says he is not done yet, saying he still wants to beat Dominican Juan Marichal’s inning record. Marichal pitched 3,507 innings, while Colon has pitched 3,445 2/3 innings. He has 62 innings to go. That may be tough to pull off in the 2018 season, which means that Colon may land somewhere again in 2019 and go for Marichal’s record.
While not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, Colon has been a pleasant surprise in the 2018 season for the Rangers, and he deserves big props for the accomplishment he achieved while wearing Rangers red. Onward toward the next record!
