Chicago ? A quick start gave Bartolo Colon an early cushion. Then he used his arm and glove to send the Chicago White Sox into sole possession of first in the AL Central.

Colon pitched his seventh complete game Monday night, escaping numerous scoring threats and making a big defensive play as the White Sox used a five-run first to beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-2, in the opener of their AL Central showdown.

“That’s big for us to jump out in that fashion and get the hits that we did,” White Sox manager Jerry Manuel said.

“Every time Bartolo got into trouble, he went up a notch, so you knew fatigue was not a factor in letting him go.”

Colon gave up 10 hits and snuffed out a Twins rally in the seventh when he snared Denny Hocking’s liner up the middle with runners at second and third and no outs.

He then struck out Doug Mientkiewicz and got Matthew LeCroy to fly out on a pitch that was clocked at 102 mph.

“The ball caught me,” Colon said of his defensive play.

With the victory, Chicago took a one-game lead at the start of what promises to be a frenetic final three weeks of the season. After three more games at U.S. Cellular Field, the teams also play three times next week at the Metrodome.

Minnesota starter Kyle Lohse almost didn’t make it out of the first as the White Sox scored five times with two outs while batting around.

Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire is ejected by umpire Gerry Davis after arguing that a foul ball hit by Christian Guzman in the fourth inning actually was fair. The Twins lost, 5-2, Monday in Chicago.

And Twins manager Ron Gardenhire didn’t survive the fourth, ejected after an argument with plate umpire Gerry Davis.

“You don’t want to cry, but we hit some balls pretty hard and they made some plays,” Gardenhire said. “Colon did what he is supposed to do — get people out in big situations. Denny hit a bullet right into his glove.”

Colon (13-12) walked one and struck out four, throwing 117 pitches.

The White Sox, responding to a loud crowd of 32,807 on a half-price ticket night, came out quickly.

Carlos Lee doubled with one out in the first, Frank Thomas walked and after Magglio Ordonez popped out, Carl Everett hit an RBI single.

Paul Konerko walked to load the bases before Jose Valentin blooped a two-run single to center to make it 3-0. Joe Crede followed with a single and then Miguel Olivo hit a sinking liner to left-center that a diving Shannon Stewart couldn’t hold, turning it into a two-run double.

Lohse, 6-1 in his seven previous starts, settled down thereafter and allowed just two hits in his final five innings.

“It’s a little frustrating,” Lohse said. “They got a couple of balls, if they hang up there a little longer, they were outs.”

Minnesota scored twice in the top of the second on an RBI double by Torii Hunter and A.J. Pierzynski’s run-scoring grounder after Corey Koskie singled and moved up on a wild pitch.

Gardenhire was ejected for the seventh time this season when he argued with Davis in the middle of the fourth, right after first-base umpire Mark Carlson ruled Cristian Guzman’s liner over first foul.

“‘They yelled at us because we got excited when it was just foul, the one Guzman hit,” Gardenhire said.

“What are we supposed to do? It’s a playoff atmosphere, guys react to it. …

“Finally I just had enough and said, ‘Why don’t you watch the game? Just be out there, do the umpiring and leave our dugout alone.”‘

Yankees 9, Blue Jays 3

New York — Hideki Matsui drove in three runs, and New York’s hitters made plenty of noise on a quiet afternoon in the Bronx.

Only 8,848 showed up at Yankee Stadium to watch the makeup of a July 22 rainout.

Mike Mussina (16-7) was given a three-run lead in the first and went seven innings for his 198th career victory a day after teammate David Wells also won No. 198.

Kelvim Escobar (10-9) gave up eight runs and 10 hits in three-plus innings.

Orioles 13, Red Sox 10

Baltimore — Deivi Cruz drove in four runs, and Jerry Hairston scored the tiebreaking run in the eighth.

The Orioles trailed 8-5 before scoring four runs in the seventh and four more in the eighth. Boston made four errors.

Boston fell 31/2 games behind the New York Yankees in the AL East and had their wild-card lead over idle Seattle shaved to one game.

Angels 3, Athletics 1

Oakland, Calif. — Garret Anderson drove home Adam Kennedy with an eighth-inning single to lead Anaheim over Oakland.

Wilson Delgado later drew a bases-loaded walk from Tim Hudson (14-6), who pitched 7 2-3 innings.

Scott Hatteberg hit an RBI double for the A’s, whose eight-game home winning streak was snapped by their fifth loss in six games overall. Oakland’s AL West lead over idle Seattle shrank to 11/2 games — the first change in the margin since Aug. 28.