DETROIT — The Rocket misfired again.
Roger Clemens remained one victory shy of career No. 300 when the Detroit Tigers, of all teams, rallied from six runs down Sunday to spoil history.
The Yankees salvaged something Sunday, however, as Alfonso Soriano and Jorge Posada homered off Steve Sparks in the 17th inning to give New York a 10-9 win.
Clemens' chase of 300 will continue next weekend in Chicago.
He is scheduled to start Saturday at Wrigley Field against Kerry Wood. The Yankees haven't played the Cubs there since the 1938 World Series, and Clemens has never pitched in a game inside Wrigley's ivy-covered walls.
The 40-year-old lasted six innings against Detroit, leaving with a 8-6 lead and needing just nine outs from his bullpen to become the 21st pitcher with 300 wins.
But the Tigers, baseball's worst team this season, came back from a 7-1 deficit by scoring five runs off Clemens and the Yankees' shaky infield in the fifth. Detroit then tied it in the seventh while the six-time Cy Young award winner watched helplessly.
Clemens, 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 which came to see something special — not Detroit winning its first series at home this season.
Clemens was bidding to become the first pitcher to get win No. 300 since 1990 when Nolan Ryan, one his idols, did it. Clemens can still match Ryan, who needed three starts to reach the milestone.
Clemens was replaced by Yankees manager Joe Torre after 107 pitches. He finished with six strikeouts, and now needs only nine to join Ryan (5,714) and Steve Carlton (4,136) as the only pitchers to reach 4,000.
Clemens didn't want to prolong his pursuit of 300 or disappoint any of the 60 family and friends who came to Detroit and will now have to find tickets in Chicago.
His 16-year-old son, Koby, got dressed alongside his dad and served as one of the Yankees' bat boys.
Thousands of New York fans helped pack Comerica Park, which hasn't had many big crowds or big games since the ballpark opened in 2000.
Fans hung from the iron fence on Adams Street beyond the outfield wall while others gathered on the upper deck of a parking garage to see Clemens pitch.