DETROIT - Roger Clemens had a big lead against the worst team in baseball.<br>
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Surely, this was it.<br>
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Just the formality of a few more easy innings for win No. 300 - so it seemed.<br>
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The Detroit Tigers suddenly began a scrappy comeback, keeping Clemens stuck at 299 and taking the visiting New York Yankees to 17 innings before losing 10-9 Sunday.<br>
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"You've got a 7-1 lead and Roger on the hill, that's icing on the cake," teammate David Wells said. "It's just a shame because we thought it was in the bag."<br>
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Clemens and the Yankees' defense unraveled in the fifth inning, allowing the Tigers to score five runs. He came out after six and watched helplessly as Detroit tied it at 8 in the seventh.<br>
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The Rocket, who lost to Boston on May 26 in his first crack at No. 300, finished with a no-decision before a disappointed Comerica Park-record crowd of 44,095.<br>
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"We're glad that Roger is going to have to do it somewhere else," Tigers manager Alan Trammell said.<br>
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Clemens' chase will continue next weekend in Chicago. The six-time Cy Young winner is scheduled to start Saturday at Wrigley Field against Cubs ace Kerry Wood, who struck out 20 batters in 1998 to tie the nine-inning record set twice by Clemens.<br>
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The Yankees haven't played at Wrigley since the 1938 World Series, and Clemens has never pitched in a game inside the ballpark's ivy-covered walls. That means his friends and family will be trying to secure some tough tickets.<br>
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"The family doesn't get together too often on the road, so this is nice for me," said Clemens, who had 60 family members and friends on hand in Detroit. "And they're getting to see some different ballparks."<br>
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Alfonso Soriano and Jorge Posada homered off Steve Sparks (0-2) in the 17th inning for New York. Wells (7-2) pitched 5 2-3 innings in his first relief appearance in nearly 10 years, and Juan Acevedo got his sixth save.<br>
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Derek Jeter and Todd Zeile also homered for the Yankees, who made three of their season-high four errors in the fifth.<br>
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Still, the 40-year-old Clemens said he wasn't disappointed after failing in his latest bid to become the 21st pitcher to win his 300th game - and first since Nolan Ryan in 1990.<br>
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"There are some guys disappointed inside (the clubhouse)," Clemens said. "Some of the relievers are a little upset. It will be great to get it over with and move on to something else."
