Colon Logs 14 Ks In Indians Victory

Bartolo Colon pitched like his hero Friday night.

Colon struck out a career-high 14 and beat his boyhood idol Roger Clemens as the Cleveland Indians downed the Toronto Blue Jays 7-3 Friday night for their fourth consecutive win.

"It was thrilling because I got 14 strikeouts and a chance to face my idol," Colon, a native of the Dominican Republic, said through an interpreter. "My best pitch was the fastball, but everytime I got into trouble I threw a curve."

Colon's 14 strikeouts were the most by an Indians pitcher since Greg Swindell had 15 against Kansas City on May 10, 1987. Colon retired eight in a row to finish the game.

"Boy, when Bartolo smells the finish line, he's really dominant," Clemens said. "Once that kid got a three-run lead, he was really coming on."

Jim Thome, David Bell and David Justice each hit home runs to support Colon (4-3), who gave up three runs and five hits in his third complete game of the season.

Thome hit a two-run shot in the first, his 11th homer of the season and fifth in his career off Clemens to make it 2-0.

Clemens (5-6) gave up four earned runs on seven hits, walked four and struck out nine in seven innings.

"I felt I was throwing well enough to get the job done, but I need to cut down on my walks," Clemens said. "You can't go to the line with a team like that too many times."

Indians manager Mike Hargrove liked the power Colon had in the late innings.

"He probably threw his hardest fastball in the eighth and ninth innings," Hargrove said. "He stayed ahead of the hitters. He threw a four-seam fastball in the high 90s, a two-seam fastball in the mid-90s and he had a good changeup and curve. He got his last out on a changeup."

After the Blue Jays tied it in the third on an RBI groundout by Alex Gonzalez and an RBI double by Shawn Green, Cleveland took the lead for good with two runs in the sixth.

Travis Fryman hit an RBI single to score Manny Ramirez, who led off with a walk and advanced to third on a single and a fielder's choice. Kenny Lofton made it 4-2 with an RBI groundout.

Carlos Delgado cut the Indians lead to 4-3 in the bottm half with an RBI single to score Shannon Stewart, who led off with a single and moved to third when Lofton lost Jose Canseco's fly ball for a double.

Bell increased the Indians' lead to 6-3 in the eighth with his third home run, a two-run shot off reliever Paul Quantrill.

David Justice made it 7-3 in the ninth with a 433-foot home run, his 10th of the season.

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