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Clemens Recovers, Earns 334th Win

From Associated Press

With the bases loaded and nobody out in the second inning, the Colorado Rockies were poised to get a rare early cushion against Roger Clemens of the Houston Astros.

Clemens, however, simply needed a little time to get warmed up.

The right-hander escaped that jam by giving up only one run, and went on to complete seven strong innings for his 334th victory in leading the Astros to a 6-2 victory Wednesday at Houston.

“It was big to get out of that down just 1-0,” Clemens said. “I was very fortunate.”

Morgan Ensberg backed Clemens with a three-run homer in the third inning, and the Astros scored three runs in the seventh to complete a three-game sweep of the Rockies.

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Clemens (6-3) gave up two runs and five hits, struck out four and walked two, lowering his major league-leading earned-run average to 1.51 -- the lowest of his 21-year career through his first 15 starts.

San Francisco 4, Arizona 0 -- Jason Schmidt (5-3) struck out a season-high 10 in eight innings and extended his scoreless streak to 17 innings to lift the Giants at San Francisco.

Moises Alou had three hits and drove in a run to support Schmidt, who hadn’t won consecutive outings since April 5 and 10.

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Atlanta 8, Florida 0 -- Andruw Jones hit his NL-leading 21st homer, a two-run drive in the bottom of the fifth inning, and starter Horacio Ramirez (6-4) pitched five innings before leaving because of a strained groin at Atlanta.

Jones has nine homers in the last 11 games, a streak that began with a two-homer game June 11 against Oakland.

Philadelphia 8, New York 4 -- Chase Utley had a go-ahead run-scoring single in a six-run seventh inning at Philadelphia and the Phillies won for only the third time in eight games.

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Cliff Floyd and Mike Piazza homered for the Mets, who have lost 10 of 13.

Cincinnati 7, St. Louis 6 -- Adam Dunn led off two consecutive innings with home runs and the Reds overpowered Mark Mulder (8-5) before holding on for the home victory.

Dunn, who has 20 homers, helped the Reds improve to 2-0 under interim Manager Jerry Narron.

Washington 5, Pittsburgh 4 -- Brian Schneider’s go-ahead single in the eighth inning barely traveled 150 feet in a game at Pittsburgh that featured long home runs.

Jose Guillen hit two homers as the teams combined for five in the first three innings.

Milwaukee 9, Chicago 4 -- Carlos Lee hit two homers, including a three-run drive in an eight-run second inning in which the host Brewers sent 12 batters to the plate and knocked out Carlos Zambrano (4-4).

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