Astros Support a Clemens Victory

Roger Clemens finally got a little help from his teammates on offense. Not that he needed much against the reeling Arizona Diamondbacks.

Clemens struck out eight and gave up one run in seven innings and the Astros scored more than five runs for the 10th time in 11 games, sending Houston to a 6-1 victory Wednesday at Houston.

“Give our hitters all the credit,” Clemens said. “They really have been pushing hard and it’s nice to see it pay off. It made my job easy tonight.”

Clemens (12-3) bounced back nicely after tying a season high by giving up three homers in his loss to Milwaukee on Friday. He gave up only five hits and got his 322nd victory, moving within two of Nolan Ryan and Don Sutton for 12th place on the career list.

Jeff Kent hit a two-run homer in the third and Jeff Bagwell followed with a solo shot on the next at-bat, giving the Astros a six-run lead that proved too much for the league’s fourth-worst offense.

Atlanta 1, Pittsburgh 0 -- Russ Ortiz shut out the Pirates for seven innings at Pittsburgh to win his sixth in a row and Chipper Jones homered for the Braves’ only run off rookie Oliver Perez.

Ortiz (12-6) earned his 100th major league victory and improved to 7-0 against Pittsburgh, despite allowing at least one baserunner in every inning. The Pirates had nine hits off Ortiz and 11 overall, only to strand 11 runners after scoring 36 runs in their previous five games.

Florida 6, Philadelphia 3 -- Mother Nature and Hee Seop Choi made it another miserable night in Miami for the Phillies, who endured two rain delays before losing again to the Marlins.

Choi hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the eighth inning, and Florida extended its winning streak against the Phillies at Pro Player Stadium to 13 games, including six this year.

St. Louis 11, Cincinnati 10 -- Scott Rolen hit two of the Cardinals’ four homers at Cincinnati to send the Reds to their eighth consecutive loss.

Jim Edmonds homered in all three games of the series sweep, which put the Cardinals 11 games up in the NL Central.

Milwaukee 6, Chicago 3 -- Chris Capuano pitched effectively into the seventh inning, and Bill Hall and Ben Grieve homered at Milwaukee to help the Brewers end a four-game losing streak. The Brewers beat Cub ace Kerry Wood for only their second win in 10 games.

Montreal 7, New York 4 -- Tony Batista homered and drove in two runs, and Nick Johnson hit a go-ahead RBI double in the fifth inning to lift the Expos over the Mets at Montreal. Luis Ayala pitched a perfect eighth for Montreal to extend his shutout streak to 23 1/3 innings.

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Big Winners

Houston’s Roger Clemens posted win No. 322 Wednesday. Chicago Cub starter Greg Maddux will try to become the 22nd pitcher in major league history to win 300 games when he faces Philadelphia at Wrigley Field on Sunday. Active victory leaders through Wednesday:

*--* 1. Roger Clemens, Houston 322 2. Greg Maddux, Chicago Cubs 299 3. Tom Glavine, N.Y. Mets 259 4. Randy Johnson, Arizona 240 5. Mike Mussina, N.Y. Yankees 208 6. David Wells, San Diego 206 7. Kevin Brown, N.Y. Yankees 204 8. Jamie Moyer, Seattle 191 9. Pedro Martinez, Boston 177 10. Curt Schilling, Boston 175 11. Kenny Rogers, Texas 171 12. Kevin Appier, Kansas City 169 13. John Smoltz, Atlanta 163 14. Andy Pettitte, Houston 155 15. Al Leiter, N.Y. Mets 151

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