Colon flirts with perfect game in Rangers’ W

Texas right-hander Bartolo Colon made a stunning bid for a perfect game Sunday night, and though his no-hitter and shutout disappeared in the eighth inning, the Rangers at least made sure Colon’s efforts didn’t happen in a losing cause.

Robinson Chirinos scorched a two-run double in the top of the 10th inning, lifting Texas to a 3-1 win over the host Houston Astros.

Colon’s attempt at history ended when he missed high with a 3-1 pitch to Carlos Correa for a walk to start the eighth inning, then ceded his first hit when Josh Reddick lashed a double into the right field corner. Yuli Gurriel cashed in Correa with a sacrifice fly to center, and Marwin Gonzalez lined out to center before Rangers manager Jeff Banister hooked Colon. The 44-year-old veteran’s final line was 72/3 innings, one hit, one run, a walk and seven strikeouts.

Houston starter Justin Verlander was nearly as brilliant as Colon. He finished with 11 strikeouts in eight innings, permitting just one hit (a Chirinos homer), one run and one walk.

Mets 3, Brewers 2

Wilmer Flores homered with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift New York to a win over visiting Milwaukee.

The Mets improved to 12-2 – their best start ever – and also have won five series to open a season for the first time. The Brewers are 8-8. Flores’ third career walk-off homer made a winner out of Jeurys Familia (1-0), who threw a hitless ninth. Matt Albers (2-1) served up the homer and took the loss.

Brandon Nimmo missed the cycle by a double and scored the Mets’ first two runs. Nimmo led off with a single in the first and eventually scored on Todd Frazier’s single before he homered leading off the sixth.

Red Sox 3, Orioles 1

Andrew Benintendi collected three hits, including the game-tying triple in the bottom of the fifth inning, as host Boston continued the best start in team history with a win over Baltimore to improve to 13-2.

Benintendi fell a homer shy of the cycle and recorded his first three-hit game of the season. He reached base for the 11th straight game and reached base more than once for the ninth time in that span. J.D. Martinez scored the tie-breaking run on a wild pitch, Mitch Moreland also had three hits and TzuWei Lin added insurance with a double.

Dylan Bundy (0-2) allowed three runs – one earned – on seven hits in 52/3 innings as Baltimore lost for the fifth time in six games. Manny Machado doubled in Baltimore’s lone run in the first inning but the Orioles struck out 14 times.

Rockies 6, Nationals 5

Ian Desmond hit a solo homer with two outs in the top of the ninth to give visiting Colorado a victory over Washington.

Desmond lifted his shot to center on a 3-2 pitch from Sean Doolittle (0-1), handing the Rockies their third victory in the four-game series against his former team. Adam Ottavino (3-0) earned the victory despite allowing a game-tying run on a wild pitch in the eighth.

Bryce Harper hit his seventh homer of the season in the first inning and gave Washington a 1-0 lead. Anthony Rendon (sore big toe) was out of the Washington lineup for the second consecutive game. He is still considered day-to-day.

Dodgers 7, Diamondbacks 2

Clayton Kershaw struck out 12 batters over seven innings and the Los Angeles offense came to life and ended their 11-game regular-season losing streak to visiting Arizona.

Kershaw (1-2) picked up his first victory in four starts, while the offense finally gave him more than two runs of support in a game. It was the left-hander’s 59th career game with at least 10 strikeouts.

The Dodgers’ offense worked six walks against Diamondbacks starter Zack Godley, with two of those six runners coming around to score. Another walk to Chase Utley forced home a run in the third inning. Godley (2-1), who entered as the National League’s ERA leader, gave up five runs (four earned) on five hits in just four innings. The right-hander’s ERA rose to 3.00 after he came into the game with a 0.64 mark.

Padres 10, Giants 1

San Diego left-hander Joey Lucchesi outpitched fellow rookie starter Tyler Beede, and Christian Villanueva and Jose Pirela drove in three runs apiece as the Padres hammered host San Francisco.

Lucchesi (2-0) held the Giants to one run on five hits with a career-high nine strikeouts over six innings. The 24-year-old has a 1.66 earned run average in four major league starts and has allowed only two unearned runs on 10 hits and four walks with 24 strikeouts over 17 innings in his past three starts. (Reuters)