Huff was nodding off on the team bus traveling from the hotel to Kauffman Stadium when a car hydroplaned and struck the bus. No one, including the eight Tribe players on the bus, was hurt in the accident, but Huff, who went on to pitch the Indians to a 4-2 victory that gave them the series win, momentarily had his peace interrupted.

Maybe that was a good thing.

"It was almost like a wake-up call," Huff said. "I was kind of sleeping, then that guy hit us and it was like, 'Whoa, I better wake up here.'"

Huff needed to wake up after his rough start against the Mariners on Friday. In that game, he was tagged for five runs in 3 1/3 innings and took the loss.

This time around, Huff had trouble preserving two early leads bestowed upon him by a Tribe offense bolstered by the performance of Grady Sizemore and Jamey Carroll at the top of the order, but he improved as the game wore on and walked out a winner.

"It was important for him to come back after his last outing," manager Eric Wedge said. "He separated and threw the ball better. I like the way he used all his pitches as the game wore on."

Huff was using too many pitches early. The Royals worked him into some deep counts that would later prevent him from pitching past the sixth inning. But Huff also did a fine job of limiting the damage.

The Indians gave Huff a 1-0 lead in the first when Sizemore reached on a Billy Butler fielding error, moved to third on a Carroll single and eventually came in to score on a Asdrubal Cabrera fielder's choice. Huff gave that run back in the bottom of the inning, when he let the Royals load the bases on singles and served up a sacrifice fly to Mark Teahen.

In the third, Sizemore drew a walk from Luke Hochevar, stole second, moved to third on another Carroll single and scored on Shin-Soo Choo's double. But Huff gave that run back, as well, serving up an RBI double to Miguel Olivo in the bottom of the inning.

"I was frustrated with myself," Huff said.

The frustration, however, wouldn't last long, as the Indians finally got it right in the fifth.

Sizemore once again reached to lead off the inning, this time with a double. And after moving to third on a Carroll groundout, Sizemore scored on Hochevar's wild pitch to make it 3-2.

"Grady and Jamey up top were fantastic for us," Wedge said. "They were separators. Grady didn't play , and he was all over the place today. And Jamey did a great job moving Grady over."

The game was firmly in the Tribe's hands when Huff responded to that third run of support by turning in a 1-2-3 fifth. Huff likes to talk about "winning innings," and when he won that one, the Indians were on their way to winning the game.

"When I put up that zero," Huff said, "that was a real confidence-booster."

His confidence was boosted further in the sixth, when fellow rookie Matt LaPorta socked an 0-2 offering from Hochevar over the left-field wall for a solo shot that served as his second homer in the big leagues and his first since his most recent promotion.

"He's playing every day and getting regular playing time," Wedge said of LaPorta. "He's working in the right direction. He just needs to continue to learn. That's part of being a young player."

And that's the focus of this second half, in which the Indians are focused on developing their young talent. Huff is a major piece of that equation, as he hopes to compete for a rotation spot in 2010. Huff has 140 2/3 innings under his belt at the Major and Minor League levels this season, and the Indians will cap him around 160 or 170 because of his past injury history. So, his '09 audition is running out.

This outing, though, was clearly a step in the right direction.

"I was really just trying to bounce back after that last outing," said Huff, who allowed just the pair of runs on seven hits over six innings.

He certainly did that, and the Indians' bullpen did the rest. Joe Smith and Chris Perez served as the bridge to Kerry Wood, who had his first save opportunity on the road since July 27 and made the most of it, working a perfect ninth.

With the win, the Indians picked up their eighth series win in 12 tries since the All-Star break and their fifth straight series win against an AL Central opponent. So the dents to the team bus didn't bother them in the slightest.