No-Hitter Eludes Clemens

Five days after winning his 300th game, Roger Clemens almost made even more baseball history.

Clemens took a no-hit bid through 7 1/3 innings -- coming tantalizingly close to the only thing missing from his Hall of Fame pitching resume -- but was long gone by the time the New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 1-0, Wednesday night at New York on Alfonso Soriano’s 12th-inning single.

“I’ve never thrown one since I’ve been playing ball, and I got on the mound when I was 7,” Clemens said. “If a no-hitter happens that’s great, but I’m not going to lose any sleep over that.”

Marlon Anderson lined an opposite-field single to left on a 3-and-2 pitch for the only hit off Clemens, lifted after eight innings and 116 pitches with the game still scoreless.

Beginning his fourth inning of relief, Lance Carter (4-2) walked Robin Ventura in the 12th. Ruben Sierra’s single sent pinch-runner Enrique Wilson to third, and Raul Mondesi was walked to load the bases.

After Todd Zeile struck out, Soriano looped a soft single to center over a drawn-in infield.

Kansas City 8, Minnesota 6 -- Carlos Beltran had three hits and two RBIs and Michael Tucker also drove in two runs for the Royals at Kansas City, Mo.

Rick Reed (3-7), who came off the 15-day disabled list to make his first start since May 31, was roughed up for nine hits and seven runs in 3 2/3 innings.

Cleveland 4, Detroit 1 -- Jason Davis (6-5) came within one out of the first shutout of his career and Ben Broussard’s seventh-inning double broke a scoreless tie at Detroit.

Chicago 3, Boston 1 -- Esteban Loaiza won his 10th game and Brian Daubach had an RBI double against his former team at Chicago.

Loaiza (10-2), a non-roster invitee to the White Sox camp, has already topped his win total of nine from last season and is just one win short of his career best set in 1997 with Pittsburgh.

Toronto 6, Baltimore 2 -- Roy Halladay (10-2) gave up two runs over seven innings to win his 10th consecutive start, and Mike Bordick had a key two-run single against his former team at Baltimore.

The last major league pitcher to win 10 successive starts was Chuck Finley with the Angels in 1997.

Oakland 4, Texas 3 -- Scott Hatteberg’s two-out single in the bottom of the 11th scored the winning run at Oakland.