BOSTON, May 21 (UPI) -- Roger Clemens notched his 299th career victory Wednesday night, Raul Mondesi had a clutch RBI single in the seventh inning and the bullpen made it stand as the New York Yankees downed the Boston Red Sox, 4-2.
Clemens (6-2) worked six innings and allowed a pair of runs and nine hits while striking out seven against his former team.
He received a scare in the sixth inning when Bill Mueller 's single glanced off his right hand, leaving runners at the corners with two outs. After a brief examination and some warmup tosses, Clemens stayed in the game and struck out Doug Mirabelli to end the threat.
New York still needed to score to give Clemens a shot at the victory and snapped a 2-2 tie with a two-out rally. Jorge Posada laced a single to left field and Boston starter Tim Wakefield (4-2) walked Robin Ventura. Mondesi then came through with a single into center field to give the Yankees the lead.
Yankees manager Joe Torre turned over the game to his beleaguered bullpen one night after watching Cuban rookie Jose Contreras cough up a lead. Chris Hammond retired a pair of hitters and Antonio Osuna got the next three outs before issuing a two-out walk to Trot Nixon in the eighth inning.
Closer Mariano Rivera entered and picked off pinch-runner Damian Jackson before throwing a pitch. After New York added an insurance run in the ninth inning, Rivera worked around an error by center fielder Bernie Williams to start the frame for his fourth save in as many chances.
Clemens improved to 6-0 on the road this season and likely will go for career win No. 300 against Boston on Memorial Day.
