Colon, Lofton Spark Indians

Slowly, the pieces are coming together again for the Cleveland Indians. Now all they’re lacking is their leader.

Bartolo Colon and Kenny Lofton both returned from the disabled list Friday night and made immediate impacts, leading the Indians to a 7-3 victory over the visiting Kansas City Royals.

Colon, pitching for the first time since April 15, held Kansas City to three hits in six innings while Lofton went three for four and bunted home the go-ahead run in the fifth.

“It was great to have them back,” said bench coach Grady Little, the Indians’ acting manager while Charlie Manuel recovers from colon surgery. “I think we’re ready to get this thing rolling. All that’s missing is Charlie Manuel, and he’ll be back soon.”

Travis Fryman hit a two-out, two-run double in the sixth and Manny Ramirez and David Justice homered for Cleveland, which wasn’t the same team while Colon and Lofton were on the DL.

A pulled rib-cage muscle landed Colon (3-1) on the DL for the first time in his career, and while their No. 1 starter was out, the Indians’ starting rotation was out of whack.

And without the speedy Lofton, Cleveland’s offense was stagnant, forcing the Indians to rely too often on the home run.

But with Colon back on the mound, and Lofton, who also had a steal, back on the basepaths and in center field, the Indians were back to normal.

“I was happy to be back,” said Lofton, who scored the Indians’ final run on a mad dash home in the seventh. “It’s hard sitting for two weeks just watching.”

Miguel Batista (1-1) allowed five runs and seven hits in six innings.

Staked to a 2-0 lead on solo shots by Justice and Ramirez, Colon struck out five in the first two innings, including four in a row. He fanned Joe Randa on a 99 mph fastball for the second out of the second, and took a no-hitter into the fifth.

Carlos Beltran walked leading off the fifth and Colon gave up a single to Randa before Mark Quinn’s RBI single brought the Royals within 2-1. Brian Johnson tied it with a single.

“Colon had no-hit stuff,” said Royal Manager Tony Muser. “His endurance probably caught up to him coming off the DL and that allowed us to tie it.”

Colon escaped further trouble by getting Rey Sanchez on a pop foul; striking out Johnny Damon and watching as shortstop Omar Vizquel backhanded Carlos Febles’ grounder in the hole and threw to second for the force.

Minnesota 4, Chicago 3--Corey Koskie delivered his fourth hit of the game, a 10th-inning RBI single, as the visiting Twins defeated the White Sox, sending Chicago to its ninth loss in 11 games.

Ron Coomer drew a walk off Sean Lowe (1-1) and pinch-hitter David Ortiz dropped a single to center. Koskie then hit a hard grounder that went under Paul Konerko’s glove at first and into right field as Coomer scored.

It was the third straight dramatic win for the Twins, who rallied from 8-1 and 5-0 deficits to win their last two games against Cleveland.

Travis Miller (1-2) got four outs for the win and Hector Carrasco pitched the 10th for his first save.

Detroit 9, New York 7--Dean Palmer homered and Juan Encarnacion had three RBIs at Detroit as the Tigers avoided tying the worst start in franchise history.

The Tigers, who have the worst record in the major leagues, improved to 10-23. Only one Detroit team has started the season 9-24, the 1953 club that finished 60-94 and 40 1/2 games behind Casey Stengel’s Yankees.

Roger Clemens (3-3), bidding for his 251st career win, gave up six runs and 10 hits in 4 2/3 innings for the Yankees, whose two-game losing streak matches their longest of the season.

Tampa Bay 4, Toronto 3--Gerald Williams snapped an eighth-inning tie with an RBI single and scored on Miguel Cairo’s triple as the Devil Rays defeated the Blue Jays at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Tampa Bay won despite committing a team-record five errors--three by shortstop Kevin Stocker--that led to two unearned runs.

The Devil Rays beat right-hander Cris Carpenter (3-4) for the first time after losing to him four times in the last two seasons. Rick White (1-2) pitched two innings of relief to get the win, and Albie Lopez worked the ninth for his second save.

Oakland 9, Seattle 7--Matt Stairs hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning after Jason Giambi was intentionally walked and the Athletics rallied for a victory against the visiting Mariners.

Oakland trailed, 5-0, after three innings before chipping away to take a 6-5 lead in the sixth. But Seattle scored two in the seventh to reclaim the lead and things remained that way until Stairs’ blast off Kazuhiro Sasaki.