ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Mark McGwire has no clue how he broke up Bartolo Colon's no-hit bid.

	Bartolo Colon flirted with a no-hitter before Mark McGwire broke it up in the seventh.

"It's not that easy," said McGwire, who went 2-for-4 in the game with two strikeouts. "He was pretty close to unhittable."

Colon (6-2) matched his season high with 12 strikeouts and is 4-1 since a stint on the disabled list caused by a pulled muscle. McGwire got the Cardinals' first hit with a seventh-inning single up the middle.

"I wasn't upset," Colon said through an interpreter, bullpen coach Luis Isaac. "The only way I was thinking no-hitter was if I made it to the ninth inning."

Like most pitchers, Colon was impressed with McGwire.

"I tried to throw him a two-seamer, and the guy about hit a pea back to my knee," Colon said.

Colon walked Jim Edmonds leading off the seventh, then allowed McGwire's single, and RBI singles by J.D. Drew and pinch hitter Thomas Howard.

"When I think about McGwire, I don't want McGwire hitting any time," Indians manager Charlie Manuel said. "I love McGwire. I'd like to trade for him."

Colon allowed just two runners in the first six innings: Edmonds on a two-out walk in the first and Placido Polanco on Colon's fielding error with two outs in the fifth. In all, he gave up three hits in eight innings.

Steve Karsay worked the ninth for his 11th save in 13 chances, sending the Cardinals to their third loss in four games. With runners at the corners and two outs, Eric Davis fouled out to the reliever.

"That's as good as you can feel when you get beat, because we played very hard," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "A lot of guys stepped up and it was tough because both of their pitchers were outstanding."

Garrett Stephenson (8-1) allowed four runs and seven hits in five-plus innings, striking out six. He was attempting to become the first Cardinals starter since Daffy Dean in 1934 to start a season 9-0 and the first since Joe Magrane in August 1989 to pitch three straight complete games.

"I thought I pitched pretty good," Stephenson said. "I just happened to run into a guy that pitched better."

Cleveland took a 3-0 lead in the third, ending Stephenson's 18-inning scoreless streak when Roberto Alomar hit an RBI single and Justice hit a two-run homer.

Sexson snapped an 0-for-18 slump when homered leading off the fourth.

Game notes
Kenny Lofton, who scored the game's first run after a first-inning double, snapped an 0-for-13 slump. He's 4-for-5 for his career against Stephenson. ... The Indians are an AL-best 29-22 since interleague play began in 1997. ... The Cardinals have never been victims of a no-hitter at Busch Stadium, which opened in 1966. ... Stephenson is 14-4 in two seasons with St. Louis. ... Colon struck out 12 on May 17 against Detroit. ... The teams combined for 25 strikeouts. ... Cardinals LF Ray Lankford left after eight innings after aggravating a hamstring injury.