Grieving Clemens Still Leads Astros

Roger Clemens dug his spikes into the dirt and stared briefly at the ground before his first pitch. He knew his mother wanted him on the mound.

“I get my determination from her,” Clemens said. “She told me to go to work.”

The Houston Astro ace made his scheduled start Wednesday night and gave up one run in 6 1/3 innings in a 10-2 victory over the Florida Marlins at Houston, pitching in honor of his mother after she died early that morning. He also helped Houston end a three-game losing streak and pull within half a game of the Marlins in the wild-card race.

Bess Clemens died in Georgetown, Texas, of complications from emphysema. She was 75.

“I feel very blessed that she’s at peace now. The last 10 years were hard on her, the last two to three days were grueling,” said Clemens, who spent his mother’s final night with her. “But she was very tough to the end. She didn’t want to give up.”

Clemens (12-7) gave up five hits and lowered his major league-best earned-run average to 1.77.

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San Diego 5, San Francisco 4 -- Brian Giles hit a tiebreaking single with two out in the 10th inning, and the Padres ended a four-game losing streak with a victory at San Francisco despite stranding 15 runners.

Barry Bonds, in his third game back from several knee surgeries, pinch-hit against Akinori Otsuka with two runners aboard in the eighth and was retired on a called third strike he clearly disagreed with after a six-pitch at-bat.

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Philadelphia 12, Atlanta 4 -- Reserve infielder Ramon Martinez hit his first career grand slam, leading the Phillies at Philadelphia.

Atlanta’s Andruw Jones hit his 50th homer, becoming the first major leaguer to reach that mark since Alex Rodriguez (57) and Jim Thome (52) in 2002.

The 28-year-old also became the 12th player in major league history to hit 300 home runs before his 30th birthday.

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Pittsburgh 5, St. Louis 3 -- Brad Eldred hit a pair of solo home runs, and the Pirates’ bullpen worked 7 1/3 innings after Oliver Perez was ejected for hitting Hector Luna in the leg with a pitch in the second inning at St. Louis.

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Washington 6, New York 3 -- Preston Wilson and Vinny Castilla hit consecutive home runs in the fifth inning to lead the Nationals at New York.

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Cincinnati 7, Chicago 4 -- Sean Casey’s three-run double in the 11th inning led the visiting Reds.

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Arizona 2, Milwaukee 1 -- Alex Cintron singled with two out and the bases loaded in the 12th inning to end a 3-hour 51-minute game at Phoenix.