FULLERTON, Calif. – Former Cal State Fullerton star and current Kansas City Royals infielder Christian Colon was instrumental in helping the Royals knock off the Oakland Athletics in the American League Wild Card Playoff Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, MO.
Colon made his postseason debut in the 10th inning as a pinch hitter with the score tied 7-7. He laid down a sacrifice bunt to move first baseman Eric Hosmer into scoring position after a leadoff single.
But Colon made his mark in the bottom of the 12th as he stepped up to the plate with Hosmer standing on third base representing the tying run as the Royals trailed 8-7. Colon then hit a high chopper halfway up the third base side that could not be handled by Athletics third baseman Josh Donaldson, allowing Hosmer to bring in the tying run and giving Colon his first career MLB playoff hit and RBI.
Colon followed that up by stealing second base with two outs and catcher Salvador Perez at the plate. It was the seventh stolen base by the Royals in the game, which tied an MLB postseason record and also put the winning run in scoring position. Perez would single past a diving Donaldson and into left field to bring in Colon with the game-winning run and help the Royals advance to the AL Division series where they will take on the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday at 6 p.m. Game one of that series can be seen on TBS.
In his three seasons with the Titans, Colon posted a career .349 batting average with 267 hits, 214 runs scored, 46 doubles, 6 triples, 29 home runs and 147 RBI. Colon ranks fourth in runs on the Titans all-time career record book. He also ranks sixth in hits, hit-by-pitches (44) and eighth in total bases (412).
In addition, former Titans outfielder Gary Brown was officially named to the San Francisco Giants postseason roster on Wednesday. Brown recorded his first hit in the MLB on Saturday after he made his first career start, batting leadoff for the Giants. Brown made seven plate appearances after he made his MLB debut on Sept. 3. He had three hits and one RBI.
Brown is the 25th former Titans All-American to play in the Majors. In 2010, he was selected as a First-Team All-American by Baseball America, Yahoo! Sports and the American Baseball Coaches Association after he hit .438 in 50 games for the Titans. His batting average still ranks as the best single-season mark in Titans history.