After four innings Tuesday night, Cleveland pitcher Bartolo Colon had one more hit than the Houston Astros.
With one out in the fifth, Houston caught up with Colon, thanks to Daryle Ward, who doubled to the left-field corner.
By the middle of the sixth, with the Indians leading 10-0, the only question was whether Colon could hold onto his one-hitter. But before Houston was finished batting in the sixth, Colon was ejected from the game, ordered to the showers by plate umpire Andy Fletcher.
A strange night at Enron Field? You bet, but the Indians will take the 10-4 win.
Colon (8-7) was standing up for his teammates when he buzzed the first pitch of the sixth over the helmet of Scott Servais. In the previous half inning, Houston reliever Jim Mann had hit Juan Gonzalez and–with the bases loaded–Marty Cordova.
Gonzalez was hit in the left hand and was taken to a nearby hospital, where X-rays of his left hand were negative.
On Sunday, Houston reliever Octavio Dotel nailed Ellis Burks in the right hand, causing a hairline fracture of his thumb. Because of the injuries to Gonzalez and Burks, the Indians’ tolerance is running a little thin right now.
“At some point, you have to knock somebody down,” Indians third baseman Travis Fryman said.
Dugouts emptied after the pitch to Servais, delaying the game about five minutes.
Colon stuck around barely long enough to get credit for the win. Unfortunately for him, he was denied the opportunity to see how far his domination of the Houston lineup would go.
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Besides Ward, the only Houston runner to reach base against Colon was Tony Eusebio, who walked in the third inning. In other words, of the 15 batters he faced, Colon retired 13, four on strikeouts.
Kenny Lofton homered, Jolbert Cabrera doubled and tripled and four other Indians had doubles to lead a 13-hit attack.
Shane Reynolds (8-9) lost his fourth straight start, allowing eight runs on 12 hits in 51/3 innings.