Colon vs. Cy Young winner? Texas usually wins

ARLINGTON -- Bartolo Colon has faced off against four Cy Young Award winners this season, and the Rangers have won three of those games.
Colon, the 2005 American League Cy Young Award winner with the Angels, emerged victorious again on Monday with the help of his bullpen and a couple of home runs that gave the Rangers a 5-3 victory over Zack Greinke and the D-backs at Globe Life Park.

Colon overcame a rough first inning as RBI doubles by A.J. Pollock and Steven Souza Jr. gave Arizona a 2-0 lead. He got out of the inning by getting Ketel Marte on a fly to center, the first of 10 consecutive batters retired by Colon.
"I didn't do anything different," Colon said. "In the first inning, I was hanging my pitches in the middle of the plate. If you make a mistake, they'll hit it. After that, I started throwing my changeup and slider, and felt good."
Greinke started the night by retiring six consecutive batters but Ronald Guzmán got Texas started with a home run to lead off the third inning. Robinson Chirinos put the Rangers ahead for good with a three-run home run in the fourth.

"Greinke was throwing really good, but he made a mistake and I hit it out," Chirinos said. "Everybody in the lineup had good at-bats. It was a good win for us."
Colon's streak ended with a leadoff walk to Daniel Descalso in the fifth. Descalso scored later on a single by David Peralta. Colon's night ended at 79 pitches when he retired Paul Goldschmidt on a popup to end the fifth inning. Manager Jeff Banister went to the bullpen in the sixth, and the combination of Eddie Butler, Cory Gearrin and José Leclerc closed it out with four scoreless innings.

"After the first inning, [Colon] kind of settled in, was able to throw some quality pitches and get some outs," Banister said. "Once we got the lead after the fifth, [we] felt it was an opportunity to go ahead, give them a different look. Brought in Butler, he did a great job, got two innings from him, felt we could turn it over to the two guys in the back end with Gearrin and Leclerc to preserve it."
Colon beat Félix Hernández and the Mariners in his previous start. The Rangers also beat the Astros, 3-1 in 10 innings, in a matchup of Colon against Justin Verlander. Colon lost to Rick Porcello and the Red Sox on May 4.
"I feel very happy about that," Colon said. "I knew that about Verlander. I wasn't thinking about that with Greinke and the Cy Young, but I'm glad we won."
• Banister makes heads-up play on foul ball
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Gearrin, trying to hold a 4-3 lead, ran into trouble with two outs in the eighth when singles by Goldschmidt and Pollock put runners at the corners. That brought up cleanup hitter Eduardo Escobar and brought pitching coach Doug Brocail out to the mound for a conference. Gearrin got Escobar to beat one into the ground in front of home plate. Chirinos jumped on it and fired it to first for the out.

"I feel like Brocail does a great job slowing the game down and giving direction," Gearrin said. "You want to be in those big situations and get big outs so your teammates start to have faith in you."
SOUND SMART
Chirinos has played in 17 games since the All-Star break and is hitting .276 with five home runs, 15 RBIs and a .548 slugging percentage.

BELTRE LEAVES GAME
Chirinos drove in Adrián Beltré with an eighth-inning single, but it may have been a costly RBI. Beltre aggravated a left hamstring muscle on the play and had to come out of the game. He will have an MRI Tuesday, but could be headed for the disabled list.

HE SAID IT
"They're really good. I could be off a little bit, but I think they're the best offense in baseball the past month. So knowing that going in and in their home park, it's going to be tough. But I made more mistakes and got behind in more counts [and] made it a little bit tougher than it should have been. It would have been a better game if I had just pitched a little better." -- Greinke, on the Rangers' lineup
UP NEXT
Veteran right-hander Yovani Gallardo (7-1, 6.11 ERA) will pitch against the D-backs in the series finale at 7:05 p.m. CT on Tuesday at Globe Life Park. Gallardo's seven wins since June 23 are the most in the Majors, and his 11.43 run support average over that same span is the highest in the Majors. Gallardo is 7-2 with a 2.37 ERA in 13 career starts against the D-backs and 4-0 at home this season. Left-hander Patrick Corbin (9-4, 3.15) will start for Arizona.