TORONTO — The large, round face belonging to Bartolo Colon wore a frozen smile.
Standing in front of his Rogers Centre locker, the veteran right-hander could not delete his ear-to-ear grin.
There was a time two years ago when Colon believed his days as a big leaguer were over. A person close to Colon passed away and his absence in Colon’s life pushed him to come back from arm trouble that forced him to have to beg for work this past winter.
“I thought I would never come back and play baseball again. Something happened in my family, something I wouldn’t be able to say,” Colon said in a small voice but through the colossal smile. “That person made me come back and pitch in the major leagues.”
The smile was the result of Colon beating the Blue Jays, 6-2, in front of 26,062 in his first big league start since July 24, 2009. It was his first win since May 26, 2009, when he was a member of the White Sox.
“The shoes I wear tonight I am going to keep at my house,” said Colon, who allowed two runs, five hits, two walks and fanned seven in 6 2/3 innings.
After a second inning leadoff homer by J.P. Arencibia, Colon retired the next 12 Blue Jays.
When bench coach Tony Pena suggested the Yankees bring the 37-year-old Colon to spring training, manager Joe Girardi wasn’t sure what he was going to get. Colon was an elite pitcher, winner of the 2005 AL Cy Young, before injuries kept him out of the game last year.
Now, after three solid relief outings and a more-than-acceptable start filling in for Phil Hughes, the Yankees are intrigued.
“Bartolo was a really big pickup for us,” Alex Rodriguez said. “I feel very good about the back end [of the rotation].”
Time will tell if Freddy Garcia, who was good in his debut last week, and Colon will hold up. For now, they are part of a rotation that is headed by CC Sabathia and includes A.J. Burnett and Ivan Nova, who has struggled in two of three starts.
It’s not David Wells, David Cone, Andy Pettitte and El Duque, but it’s what the Yankees are dealing these days, hoping the cards are hot enough to get them to the trading deadline.
Curtis Granderson homered for the third straight game and drove in two runs, Mark Teixeira had three doubles and Robinson Cano drove in two runs. Rodriguez returned from missing two games due to an oblique muscle problem to walk twice and drive in a run with a sacrifice fly.
“No problem at all,” said Rodriguez, who proved it by sliding head-first into second base on a caught-stealing in the third inning.
Since Mariano Rivera had appeared in five of the past seven days, the previous three games across four days and threw 25 pitches flushing Tuesday night’s game, Girardi wanted to avoid his closer last night.
So when Granderson’s ninth-inning homer upped the lead to 6-2, Girardi called for Lance Pendleton to get the final three outs. In his second big league outing, Pendleton recorded one out and left runners on second and third for Rafael Soriano, who also had worked in each of the previous three games.
Soriano added to the anxiety by walking Jayson Nix to load the bases, but he bounced back to get the final two outs for his first save as a Yankee after leading the AL with 45 a year ago with Tampa Bay.
Two years ago, Colon thought he was done. Today he has made it back. Now it’s time to prove he can stick and help the Yankees.
“If you throw the ball well, you are going to get the ball,” said Girardi, who will have no problem handing it to Colon again after last night’s performance.