Mets' Bartolo Colon Collects 2,000th Career Strikeout

Per ESPN Stats & Info via Twitter, New York Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon recorded his 2,000th career strikeout Wednesday afternoon, May 28, against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Colon is the 70th Major League pitcher to achieve the milestone, and one of just four active pitchers with 2,000 strikeouts.

Colon turned in a gem Wednesday, striking out a personal season-best nine batters over 7.1 shutout innings of five-hit ball. Strikeout No. 2,000 came against former Met Ike Davis in the top of the sixth inning.

The nine Ks matched the most Colon has recorded in a game since 2007, as the last time he had 10 or more strikeouts was Apr. 26, 2007, when he fanned 11 Tampa Bay Rays while pitching for the Los Angeles Angels.

Colon threw 121 pitches Wednesday afternoon, topping 115 for the first time since July 21, 2013, when he tossed 116 pitches for the Oakland Athletics in a complete-game shutout of the Angels. Searching through the record books, one must go back almost 10 years, to August of 2004, to find Colon's last outing with 120-plus pitches.

In 17 MLB seasons dating back to 1997, Colon has a career record of 193 wins and 133 losses with nine different teams. He is fourth on the active pitcher wins list, trailing only Mark Buehrle (195), CC Sabathia (208) and Tim Hudson (210).

All stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise specified.