Bronx, NY (Betting Express) - New York Yankees starting pitcher Roger Clemens became the 21st player in major league history to record 300 career victories, as the New York Yankees defeated the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-2, at Yankee Stadium.

The 40-year-old Clemens also became just the third player in major league history to record 4,000 career strikeouts. He came into the contest four strikeouts shy of 4,000, then struck out the side in the first inning and set down Edgar Renteria on strikes in the second.

Clemens (7-4) pitched 6 2/3 solid innings and gave up just two runs. He surrendered six hits and struck out 10 to finally reach the coveted 300-win plateau in his fourth try.

The righthander joined Phil Niekro as the only pitchers to notch their 300th career win while with the Yankees. Niekro did it in his fifth try on the final day of the 1985 regular season in Toronto.

Clemens became the first hurler to reach the 300-win plateau since Nolan Ryan accomplished the feat during the 1990 season. He also joined Ryan (5,714) and Steve Carlton (4,136) as the only other pitcher with at least 4,000 strikeouts.

Tom Seaver, a former teammate of Clemens, is the only other pitcher to win his 300th game at Yankee Stadium. He did it as a member of the Chicago White Sox in 1985.

The six-time Cy Young Award winner gave up a solo home run to Jim Edmonds in the second and a sacrifice fly to former Yankee teammate Tino Martinez in the third.

Clemens worked out of trouble in the fifth to preserve a slim 3-2 advantage. With runners on first and second and one out, he picked up his ninth and 10th strikeouts of the game when he struck out Edmonds and Scott Rolen to escape the jam.

Clemens pitched a 1-2-3 sixth and came out to start the seventh despite tossing 111 pitches. He then retired Kerry Robinson and Miguel Cairo on fly balls to center field before giving way to Chris Hammond, much to the dismay of the home crowd. Clemens, however, left to a standing ovation.

Hammond allowed a bunt single to J.D. Drew and a single by Albert Pujols, but induced Edmonds into a weak ground ball to second base to end the inning.

Antonio Osuna pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Mariano Rivera closed out the contest with a 1-2-3 ninth.

In his first crack at history on Memorial Day, Clemens was on the losing end of an 8-4 decision to the Boston Red Sox, the team he was with for the first 192 wins of his career. He was handed a 7-1 lead against Detroit in his second try, but did not receive help from his bullpen despite leaving with a 7-5 lead. The bullpen let him down once again in Chicago last Saturday. Clemens left with a 1-0 lead, but former Yankee Juan Acevedo allowed a three-run homer to relinquish the advantage.