Texas Rangers vs Kansas City Royals Match Player Stats On Jun 18, 2018

It was the 244th career win for the 45-year-old Colon (4-4), breaking a tie with Hall of Famer Juan Marichal for most wins by a Dominican-born player and moving him within one win of tying Nicaraguan Dennis Martinez (245) for most wins by a pitcher from a Latin American country.

Colon gave up three runs on nine hits in six innings, walking one and striking out one, giving him 2,503 strikeouts in his career, which also broke a tie with Christy Mathewson for 33rd place in MLB history.

Choo, who also doubled, walked three times in five at-bats and scored twice, reached base for the 32nd straight game, the longest active streak in the major leagues.

Colon was staked to an early 5-0 lead thanks to a leadoff home run by Choo -- who barely cleared the fence in right with a towering drive off a fastball by Ian Kennedy (1-7) that measured at just 366 feet for his 13th of the season -- and a four-run third inning that included a three-run homer by Adrian Beltre. It was the third home run of the season for Beltre and 465th of his career, moving him into a tie for 34th place on the all-time list with Dave Winfield and Miguel Cabrera.

The Royals cut it to 5-2 in the bottom of third on an RBI double by Adalberto Mondesi driving in Abraham Almonte, who opened the inning with a single, and a sacrifice fly by Mike Moustakas that drove in Mondesi, who had moved to third on a single by Alex Gordon.

An RBI triple by right fielder Rosell Herrera drove in Alcides Escobar to make it 5-3 in the fourth.

But Kansas City missed a golden opportunity to take the lead in the fifth, parlaying three singles and a walk into zero runs. Designated hitter Whit Merrifield singled to open the inning but was promptly picked off. Gordon then walked and Moustakas and Salvador Perez followed with singles to load the bases, but Colon then got Hunter Dozier to ground into a double play to end the threat.

The Rangers picked up an insurance run in the eighth when center fielder Delino DeShields drove in Jurickson Profar with a two-out squeeze bunt past reliever Wily Peralta.

Keone Kela picked up his 16th save in 16 tries with a 1-2-3 ninth.

--Field Level Media