Colon back in Cy Young form
SEATTLE – Take it from Los Angeles Angels catcher Mike Napoli: The real Bartolo Colon is back.
“That’s the Bartolo that everyone knows,” Napoli said. “That’s Cy Young right there. That’s what we need to get back in this thing.”
Colon pitched a four-hitter for his eighth career shutout and first win since September as the Angels completed their first three-game sweep of the season with a 4-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night.
Rob Quinlan and Orlando Cabrera homered to back last year’s A.L. Cy Young Award winner who had two strikeouts, a hit batsman and no walks in his 31st career complete game.
The Angels won their season-best fifth straight, while the Mariners dropped their fourth in a row and were shut out for a major league-leading 10th time. It was the Angels’ fifth shutout of the season.
Seattle is 1-5 on its current nine-game homestand after returning with a 7-2 record in an interleague road trip.
The 33-year-old Colon (1-4) made his seventh start of the season and fourth since spending nearly two months on the disabled list with an inflamed right shoulder. It was his first win since beating Oakland on Sept. 29.
The Angels scored all their runs in the fifth inning on the two homers.
After singles by Juan Rivera and Kendry Morales, Quinlan made it 3-0 when he homered 410 feet to center field off 43-year-old left-hander Jamie Moyer (5-8). Two outs later, Cabrera homered to extend his streak of reaching base safely by a hit, walk or hit by a pitch to 62 games.
Moyer lost his second straight decision, both shutout defeats. He went seven innings, giving up four runs, six hits and two walks with four strikeouts. Moyer is 3-4 at Safeco Field this season after going 10-0 at home last season.
Moyer said Quinlan’s homer was the key to his defeat. It came on a 1-0 changeup.
“I think he was sitting on the changeup, something offspeed,” Moyer said. “That’s the type hitter he is. And you know what? He guessed right.”
The Mariners went meekly at the plate until the eighth inning when an emotional Carl Everett grounded out to first base unassisted and then was ejected by umpire Brian Knight after getting into an argument with him.
Everett apparently was upset because home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi called a high strike on him in the the at-bat.