Rookie Liriano upstages Clemens

Francisco Liriano was only 7 months old when Clemens started his big-league career.
HOUSTON (AP) -- Roger Clemens was upstaged by a rookie almost half his age.
Francisco Liriano, Minnesota's 22-year-old phenomenon, pitched seven scoreless innings to lead the Twins to a 4-2 win over the Houston Astros Thursday night in Clemens' much-anticipated debut.
Beginning his 23rd major league season, Clemens (0-1) was looking for his 342nd win. But instead it was Liriano, only seven months old when Clemens started his big-league career, that earned his eighth victory.
The 43-year-old Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner, left after throwing 100 pitches in five innings. It was his first major league start since leaving Game 1 of the World Series exactly eight months ago with a strained hamstring. He allowed six hits and two runs while striking out four and walking two.
Twins win ninth of last 10
Liriano (7-1) gave up just four hits in eight innings and didn't allow a run until Jason Lane's two-run homer in the eighth, helping the Twins to their ninth win in 10 games and their fourth straight series victory.
Joe Nathan worked the ninth for his 11th save.
The sellout crowd of 43,769 was the largest in the history of Houston's ballpark.
Clemens, who wears jersey No. 22, re-signed with the Astros on May 31 for a one-year contract worth $22,000,022. Since he's joining the team late, he'll get a portion of that amount -- about $12.25 million. He had three tune-up starts in the minors before joining the Astros.
Liriano faced the minimum through the first six innings, thanks to double plays in three of them. He walked Craig Biggio leading off the seventh before retiring three straight batters.
It was the longest outing of the season for Liriano, who struck out a career-high 11 batters in his last start. He fanned seven and walked two Thursday.
Clemens struggles in third
Clemens' early departure was likely precipitated by his struggles in the third inning. He gave up an RBI double to Jason Kubel and a run-scoring single to Michael Cuddyer.
The Rocket then walked Justin Morneau, sending catcher Brad Ausmus and pitching coach Jim Hickey to the mound for a short chat. Clemens made 35 pitches in the first two innings combined, but had thrown 38 more by the time he struck out Torii Hunter to end the third.
The Twins extended their lead to 3-0 in the sixth when Justin Morneau homered off Russ Springer. Hunter had an RBI single in the eighth.
In the fifth, Clemens lumbered over to cover first base on a 3-6-1 double play. He pointed at the umpire to make sure he got the call before slowly retreating to the mound.
Early on, he showed his signature pinpoint control. Two of Clemens' first three pitches were 91 mph fastballs for strikes. On the fourth, Luis Castillo hit a chopper over the mound. Clemens jumped to glove it, but dropped the ball on the way down and couldn't scoop it up before Castillo reached first base safely. Clemens was charged with an error.
The next batter grounded into a double play before Joe Mauer, who leads the majors in hitting, struck out.
Continued a trend
This game continued a trend from last year as the Astros failed to give Clemens much run support. The Rocket was 13-8 with a career-best 1.87 ERA in 32 starts last season, but Houston was shut out in nine of his starts and scored two runs or less in five others.
Clemens has the best record of any pitcher against the Twins (23-13), but he wasn't able to improve it. He did continue his domination of Hunter, though. Hunter faced Clemens twice, with a flyout and a strikeout, to fall to 0-for-22 with 13 strikeouts in his career against the right-hander.
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