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Colon tries to pitch Mets to series win in Anaheim

Apr 13, 2014 - 12:21 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Once upon a time Bartolo Colon won an American League Cy Young Award with the Los Angles Angels of Anaheim. Nine years and five teams later Colon tries to lead his new club, the New York Mets, to a series win over the Angels at Angel Stadium.

Colon has been terrific through two starts for the Mets and is coming off a brilliant effort his last time out. Colon improved to 1-1 on Tuesday, as he held the Atlanta Braves scoreless over seven innings to lower his ERA to 2.08.

"I felt great," Colon said through an interpreter. "Especially when you face a team as tough as Atlanta, you prepare to be very tough mentally, so that's how I felt today. I prepared very, very well for this game."

Colon, who was the AL's best pitcher with the Angels back in 2005, has faced his former team 23 times and is 12-6 against them with a 3.16 ERA.

After losing the opener on Friday, New York bounced back on Saturday, as Anthony Recker's solo home run in the 13th inning carried them to a 7-6 win.

Raul Ibanez forced extra innings for the second straight night with a three- run blast off Jose Valverde in the ninth, but the rest of the Mets' bullpen kept the Angels hitless over the final four innings.

John Lannan (1-0) retired the last six Angels hitters and earned the win a day after New York dropped the opener of this three-game interleague set, 5-4, in 11 innings.

Matt Shoemaker (0-1), who worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the 12th, stayed on the hill the next frame and grooved a high fastball to Recker that was tomahawked into the left-field seats for the game-deciding blast.

"After throwing me two sliders, I was kind of thinking fastball," Recker said.

Getting the call for the Angels on Sunday will be lefty C.J. Wilson, who is 1-1 with a 4.61 ERA. Wilson picked up his first win of the season on Monday in Houston, as he allowed just one run and four hits in eight innings. He also struck out seven and walked a batter.

"Last week I pitched (terribly), so I was just determined to have a good game today," said Wilson, who had surrendered six runs in 5 2/3 innings in a loss to Seattle his first time out.

This will be Wilson's first-ever start versus the Mets.

These clubs are meeting in Anaheim for the first time since 2008.