Bartolo Colon’s recent body of work has been a seesaw ride, with the ups and downs coming in succession, so it only figured the 43-year-old righty would stifle the Yankees on Thursday.
After getting rocked against Colorado last Saturday on short rest, Colon continued his series of valleys and peaks by allowing one run over 6 ²/₃ innings in the Mets’ 4-1 victory at Yankee Stadium for a split in Subway Series 2016.
“I thought tonight maybe he had his best stuff all year,” manager Terry Collins said. “He had velocity throughout the game — we saw a lot of 91 [mph] up there — he used his slider a little more than he has in the past and he pitched a very good game.”
Jacob deGrom’s beauty on Tuesday, in which he fired seven shutout innings, was the best-pitched game of the series, but Colon took runner-up status.
Colon took a shutout into the seventh inning and got two outs before Jerry Blevins entered and allowed an RBI single to Aaron Hicks. The run was charged to Colon, who had surrendered a leadoff double to Gary Sanchez.
When the Mets re-signed Colon last offseason to a one-year deal worth $7.25 million, the expectation was he would be in the bullpen at this point. But with Matt Harvey finished for the year and Zack Wheeler still waiting to make his season debut, Colon (10-6) has been more valuable than anticipated.
“I didn’t see myself being a starter at this point,” Colon said. “I think just from conversations we had, I saw myself in the bullpen at this point in the season, but thank God I’ve had that opportunity and continue to be a starter and helping out.”
Colon was named as a replacement on the NL All-Star team after a strong first half. But since July 7, he has posted a 5.13 ERA for a rotation that has seen slumps from Steven Matz and Noah Syndergaard.
Colon was 5-7 with a 5.98 ERA in 18 career appearances against the Yankees, but was never seriously threatened this time around. After allowing consecutive singles in the second, he retired 13 of the next 14 batters, while the Mets built a 4-0 lead on homers from Kelly Johnson and Jay Bruce.
The biggest surprise for Colon might have been Alex Rodriguez’s absence from the Yankees’ lineup: Rodriguez has eight homers and a .442 lifetime batting average against him.
“We all know he always hits well against me,” Colon said. “I say that’s my dad.”