Clemens Beats A’s for Win No. 298

On the way to earning his 298th career victory, Roger Clemens needed a quick reminder from pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre.

Clemens pitched shutout ball into the seventh inning and led the New York Yankees over the Oakland Athletics, 5-2, Saturday at Oakland.

“Mel mentioned that I didn’t need to look for anything extra,” Clemens said of a late-inning visit to the mound.

“He thought I was trying to get a little extra, which I was, and he said my stuff was plenty good enough to get the job done,” he said.

Clemens (5-2) ended his two-game losing streak by giving up one run and six hits in 6 2/3 innings. He struck out five, leaving him 41 short of reaching 4,000.

Clemens, a six-time AL Cy Young winner, won his rematch with Barry Zito, who got the award last year. Zito threw eight sharp innings at Yankee Stadium last Sunday in a 2-0 win, beating Clemens.

Zito (5-3) gave up four runs and five hits over six innings. He walked four and struck out seven.

Tampa Bay 3, Detroit 1 -- Seth McClung won the matchup between promising young starters at St. Petersburg, Fla.

McClung (3-1) yielded one run and five hits in seven innings, struck out nine and walked two in his third career start and 10th appearance.

He was coming off a start April 30 in which he gave up six runs and six hits in 1 1/3 innings of an 8-5 loss at Minnesota.

Jeremy Bonderman (2-5) gave up three runs and eight hits in 6 2/3 innings.

Boston 6, Minnesota 5 -- Manny Ramirez scored the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth inning with a bit of smart baserunning to help end the Twins’ five-game winning streak.

With the score tied at 4-4, Boston loaded the bases off Juan Rincon (1-1) with one out. Jeremy Giambi hit a short fly ball to center fielder Torii Hunter, who made a strong throw home to keep Ramirez at third.

But when the ball short-hopped catcher A.J. Pierzynski and rolled toward the mound, Ramirez raced home. Hunter was charged with an error on the play.

The Red Sox added a run in the ninth on Nomar Garciaparra’s sacrifice fly.

Cleveland 6, Texas 4 -- C.C. Sabathia beat the Rangers for the fifth consecutive time and in so doing, kept Rafael Palmeiro from hitting his 500th homer at Arlington, Texas.

Sabathia (2-2) is 5-0 with a 2.48 ERA in five starts against Texas, including his only two wins this season.

The left-hander gave up five hits before leaving after seven innings with a 5-2 lead.

Palmeiro, in his second game since hitting No. 499 on Thursday, was hitless in three at-bats. He walked in the eighth after Juan Gonzalez and Herbert Perry had consecutive doubles for a run.

Chicago 4, Seattle 3 -- At Seattle, Bartolo Colon (3-3) ended a three-game losing streak and defeated the Mariners for the first time in almost three years. He gave up six hits and two walks, leaving after Edgar Martinez’s leadoff single in the the ninth inning.

Damaso Marte got three outs for his fourth save, helped by a baserunning blunder by pinch-runner Willie Bloomquist.

Bloomquist was caught in a rundown between second and third after Carlos Lee trapped a fly to left by Mike Cameron, who reached on a single. Marte struck out Greg Colbrunn to end it.

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300 Club

With 298 victories, Roger Clemens is on the verge of joining the 300-victory club. The other 300-game winners, with the year they got their 300th victory and their overall totals:

*--* Jim Galvin 1888 361 Tim Keefe 1890 342 Mickey Welch 1890 307 Hoss Radbourn 1891 309 John Clarkson 1892 328 Kid Nichols 1900 361 Cy Young 1901 511 Christy Mathewson 1912 373 Eddie Plank 1915 326 Walter Johnson 1920 417 Grover Alexander 1924 373 Lefty Grove 1941 300 Warren Spahn 1961 363 Early Wynn 1963 300 Gaylord Perry 1982 314 Steve Carlton 1983 329 Tom Seaver 1985 311 Phil Niekro 1986 318 Don Sutton 1986 324 Nolan Ryan 1990 324

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