Like a young fighter perhaps half his age, Bartolo Colon was on the ropes and in danger just two pitches into Friday night’s game. The Minnesota Twins righty allowed a single to leadoff hitter Shin-Soo Choo and a double off the fence in right to shortstop Elvis Andrus, and the Rangers were immediately in business. One batter later, Adrian Beltre looped a single into center to bring home both runners, and the Rangers had an early 2-0 lead just 10 pitches into the game.

At this point, who knew it would be a historic night for the 44-year-old righty in just his fourth start in a Twins uniform?

“I think the odds were fairly long to imagine after that start that we’d see him out there in the ninth inning,” manager Paul Molitor said of Colon completing the game after digging such an early hole. “Obviously impressive. He kept telling me he was good. After the seventh he said, ‘Don’t worry about it, I’ve got the last two.’ I wasn’t as sure as he was, but he made it stand up.”

Yet that was the case, as Colon more than settled down the rest of the way as he went the distance for a complete game — the 37th of his career — in an 8-4 win over the Rangers on Friday night at Target Field. Colon got Rougned Odor to ground into a double play to end the first, and his offense immediately went to work, scoring four runs in the opening frame and another in the second to give him a 5-2 lead that stood the rest of the way.

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