By Chris Duncan
ASSOCIATED PRESS

July 4, 2006

HOUSTON – Roger Clemens finally got some run support and won for the first time in his latest comeback.

“All in all, it was a good game,” Clemens said. “The guys hit the ball, and that was a lot of fun to see.”

The seven-time Cy Young Award winner allowed two runs and four hits and struck out five in five innings last night, leading the Houston Astros to a 7-2 win over the Chicago Cubs.

The 43-year-old earned his 342nd career victory, his first since beating the Cubs 3-1 in the second-to-last game of the 2005 regular season.

Lance Berkman homered twice and Preston Wilson had an RBI double as the Astros scored more than three runs for just the 13th time in Clemens' 35 starts since the beginning of last season.

“It's not like we're trying to get shut out,” Berkman said. “I guarantee you, if you take a poll of all the players in here, we don't care who's on the mound.”

Clemens (1-2) was hardly perfect – he walked three, threw a wild pitch and gave up a home run to Jacque Jones – but he still allowed two runs or fewer for the 19th time in his past 23 starts. He left after throwing 115 pitches.

The Astros failed to score in the 11 1/3 innings Clemens had pitched in his two starts since re-signing with the team on May 31. Houston was shut out nine times in 2005 when Clemens started.

Craig Biggio ended the threat of another blanking in his first at-bat, driving the first pitch from Cubs rookie Carlos Marmol (1-3) into the seats in left. It was Biggio's 48th leadoff homer, which trails only Rickey Henderson (80) on the all-time list. Berkman added a solo homer in the first.

Chicago		AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Pierre cf		4	0	3	0	0	0	.265
TWalker 2b		4	0	0	0	0	0	.289
DeLee 1b		3	0	0	0	1	2	.291
ARamirez 3b		4	0	1	0	0	0	.255
JJones rf		3	2	1	1	1	0	.309
Barrett c		3	0	0	0	1	1	.308
Pagan lf		3	0	1	1	0	1	.321
b-Mabry ph		0	0	0	0	1	0	.218
Cedeno ss		4	0	0	0	0	2	.269
Marmol p		2	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Murton lf		2	0	0	0	0	1	.266
Totals		32	2	6	2	4	8
Houston		AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
Biggio 2b		5	2	2	1	0	0	.274
Bruntlett 2b		0	0	0	0	0	0	.272
Taveras cf		4	1	0	0	0	0	.263
Lamb 1b		4	1	1	0	0	0	.328
Berkman rf		3	3	2	4	1	0	.323
PrWilson lf		4	0	2	1	0	1	.290
Ensberg 3b		1	0	0	0	3	0	.239
Ausmus c		3	0	0	1	1	0	.242
AEverett ss		3	0	0	0	1	1	.235
Clemens p		0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
a-Burke ph		1	0	0	0	0	0	.294
Nieve p		1	0	0	0	0	0	.125
Totals		29	7	7	7	7	2
Chicago			010 100 000– 2		6		0
Houston			200 023 00x– 7		7		0
a-flied out for Springer in the 6th. b-walked for Williamson in the 9th. LOB–Chicago 7, Houston 7. 2B–Pierre (14), Lamb (13), PrWilson 2 (15). 3B–Pierre (6). HR–JJones (15), off Clemens; Berkman 2 (24), off Ohman, Marmol; Biggio (7), off Marmol. RBIs–JJones (44), Pagan (5), Biggio (30), Berkman 4 (75), PrWilson (44), Ausmus (18). SB–JJones (4). S–Clemens. GIDP–Cedeno, Ausmus. Runners left in scoring position–Chicago 4 (TWalker, ARamirez, Barrett, Cedeno); Houston 6 (Biggio 4, AEverett 2). DP–Chicago 1, Houston 1.
Chicago	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Marmol L, 1-3	4 1/3	5	4	4	7	1	91	4.73
Novoa	1	1	2	2	0	1	20	5.26
Ohman	1 2/3	1	1	1	0	0	22	4.50
Williamson	1	0	0	0	0	0	12	4.38
Houston	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Clemens W, 1-2	5	4	2	2	3	5	115	2.76
Springer H, 3	1	0	0	0	0	0	10	3.81
Qualls	1	1	0	0	0	1	13	3.80
Nieve	2	1	0	0	1	2	30	4.54

Inherited runners-scored–Ohman 2-2, Novoa 3-1.

IBB–off Marmol (Berkman) 1, off Marmol (AEverett) 1. HBP–by Novoa (Taveras). WP– Clemens.

Umpires–Home, E.Montague; First, J.Layne; Second, M.Wegner; Third, M.Hudson.

T–2:53. A (Tickets sold)–41,655 (40,976).

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