Roger Clemens reached a rare milestone, pitching eight innings of two-hit ball to lead the New York Yankees past the Minnesota Twins 5-1 tonight.

Clemens became the first major leaguer to win 350 games since Hall of Famer Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves accomplished the feat by beating the Chicago Cubs 2-0 on Sept. 29, 1963 — just more than a year after Clemens was born. Yankees manager Joe Torre was Spahn's catcher in that game.

Bobby Abreu hit a go-ahead homer and finished with three hits for the Yankees, who won for only the third time in 12 games. Alex Rodriguez got his 80th RBI on a first-inning grounder, then left in the sixth because of a strained left hamstring.

Rodriguez tripped over first baseman Justin Morneau's ankle while beating out a potential double play. He remained in the game and advanced to second base before coming out. A-Rod, who was replaced on defense at third base by Miguel Cairo, will be re-evaluated Tuesday.

In a vintage performance, Clemens (2-3) retired his final 15 batters after Joe Mauer's leadoff double in the fourth. The seven-time Cy Young Award winner struck out four and walked one in the longest outing of his latest comeback this season.

He pumped his fist after striking out his final hitter and walked off the mound to a loud ovation from the crowd of 53,036 as Elton John's "Rocket Man" played over the loudspeakers.

Clemens, who will turn 45 next month, lost his previous three starts after winning his season debut against Pittsburgh. He even failed to strike out a batter in his most recent outing, a 4-0 loss at Baltimore. That ended a streak of 200 consecutive starts with at least one strikeout.

This time, the Rocket outpitched Minnesota's Boof Bonser, who fell to 0-3 in four starts since beating Washington on June 10. It was his second loss to the Yankees this year.

All-Star Torii Hunter struck out once and grounded out twice against Clemens, leaving him 0-for-25 with 14 strikeouts in his career against the right-hander.

Clemens, eighth on the career wins list, threw 67 of his 97 pitches for strikes. After closer Mariano Rivera got the final three outs, the scoreboard flashed congratulations to Clemens.

Flashing a sharp breaking ball, Bonser (5-5) struck out New York's three All-Stars in succession in the fifth: Derek Jeter, Rodriguez and Jorge Posada.

But in the sixth, Abreu drove a 2-1 pitch about 15 rows up in the right-field upper deck for his fifth homer this season and first since June 12. That gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead and seemed to wake up their offense. Andy Phillips doubled before Robinson Cano's single put runners at the corners and chased Bonser.

Juan Rincon walked consecutive batters, forcing in a run. Matt Guerrier relieved and Jeter bounced a two-run single under the glove of third baseman Jeff Cirillo to make it 5-1.

The Yankees went ahead on Rodriguez's RBI groundout in the first inning, when Minnesota second baseman Luis Castillo couldn't get the ball out of his glove on a potential double play.

Castillo also struggled with his grip on Phillips' double-play grounder in the second, bouncing his throw to first base.

The Twins tied it on Jason Kubel's RBI groundout in the second.