CHICAGO - One of baseball's most celebrated pitchers earned his first victory at one of the game's most storied parks.

Roger Clemens won at Wrigley Field and kept his perfect season intact Wednesday, pitching the Houston Astros to a 5-1 win over the Chicago Cubs.

"When you have an opportunity to pitch in this type of setting, regardless of how you feel, you want to make the appearance because people come from all over to watch you perform," Clemens said.

"I enjoy hearing the fans around the stadium, the things they say," he said.

Clemens (8-0) came back from three straight no-decisions with seven sharp innings to earn his 318th career victory, tying Phil Niekro for the 14th place on the all-time list.

Clemens' only other start at Wrigley came last June when he pitched for the Yankees in search of his 300th win. He wound up taking the loss when the Cubs rallied against New York's bullpen.

Clemens allowed one run - on a broken-bat single - and five hits in seven innings Wednesday. He struck out five and walked two in his 108-pitch outing.

Houston broke a 1-all tie in the fifth when Jeff Kent extended his hitting streak to 18 games with a two-out triple off the right-field wall and Lance Berkman singled off Matt Clement (6-4).

It was Berkman's 18th RBI in his last 15 games, and he has now reached base in 33 straight.

Adam Everett and Brad Ausmus had three hits each against the Butler native, who allowed 11 hits in 6

innings.

Houston outhit Chicago 13-6 and sent the Cubs to their seventh loss in nine games.

"The fun of it is getting to pitch against somebody like Roger Clemens, as good as he is right now," Clement said.

"It's a challenge and he was a little bit more up to the challenge. ... He threw it like he's been throwing it all year. He's tough to beat right now."

The Astros tacked on two runs in the seventh after Everett got his second bunt single. Berkman walked with two outs and Michael Lamb and Ausmus followed with RBI singles to finish Clement.

Richard Hidalgo drew a bases-loaded walk in the ninth off Cubs reliever Michael Wuertz.