Clemens flirts with perfection, beats Tigers, 4-0

DETROIT (AP) -- Roger Clemens took a perfect-game bid into the seventh inning last night and finished with a two-hitter, as the Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-0, for their season-high seventh straight victory.

The win moved the surging Red Sox within four games of the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East.

The Red Sox have gone 28-12 since July 30 to get back into the race. Third-place Detroit, which has lost nine of 12, remained six games behind the Blue Jays.

Clemens (15-8) lost his perfect game and no-hit bid with one out in the seventh. He walked Lou Whitaker on a 3-1 count and Alan Trammell, the next batter, lined a 1-1 pitch to left field for a clean single.

Clemens then struck out Cecil Fielder and got Mickey Tettleton on a grounder to first to end the inning.

Clemens struck out Rob Deer in on a 1-2 count in the third inning, giving him 200 strikeouts or more for the sixth consecutive year. He has 204 for the season.