NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Sosa Says So in Cubs’ Victory

Sammy Sosa is not exactly the people’s choice for the National League All-Star team, but he had three hits, drove in four runs and scored three Saturday in his campaign to be the league’s choice when the roll is called today.

Sosa hit a three-run homer in the first inning, and doubled and scored in the third as the Cubs built a 6-2 lead, then rallied for an 8-7 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago.

“The last couple of years, I’ve put up a lot of good numbers and they didn’t take me,” said Sosa, one of the league’s top home run hitters and run-producers in 1993 and 1994.

This year, his 52 RBIs lead the NL and his 15 homers rank third. He also has a team-high 14 steals and a .293 batting average.

“I’ve been doing my job,” he said. “There’s nothing more I can give.”

The Cardinals caught up, then went ahead with a run in the sixth inning and four in the seventh. Scott Cooper’s bases-loaded triple gave St. Louis a 7-6 lead.

Sosa gives. Sosa takes away, in this case by misplaying Cooper’s hit in right field as Brian Jordan scored the go-ahead run from first base.

Then Sosa gave again.

In the bottom of the seventh, Rey Sanchez drew a leadoff walk from John Habyan (2-2), went to second on Mark Grace’s single and scored on Sosa’s single. Todd Zeile lined into a double play before Sosa stole second and Luis Gonzalez singled him in.

Atlanta 3, Philadelphia 1--Greg Maddux said: “I can’t pitch any better,” and the Phillies certainly hope not after striking out 11 times against him at Philadelphia.

Maddux (6-1) won his sixth in a row and issued no walks, extending his streak of innings without a base on balls to 41. He gave up five hits in helping the Braves close to within three games of first-place Philadelphia in the NL East.

David Justice hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning off David West (2-2).

Cincinnati 5, New York 4--Ron Gant, Thomas Howard, Reggie Sanders and Ed Taubensee had solo homers in New York off Pete Harnish (1-6), who had given up only one homer all season.

Gant’s homer, his third in as many games, was his 18th, giving him the National League lead. He hit his home run in the fifth inning, as did Taubensee, whose run proved the game-winner.

Houston 11, Pittsburgh 0--Shane Reynolds pitched a six-hitter and Brian Hunter extended his hitting streak to 11 games with three hits for the Astros at Houston.

Houston has scored 65 runs in its last six games and Hunter is 27 for 58 during his hitting streak.

Reynolds (5-5) struck out five and got three runs in the first inning, then eight in the fifth, when Houston sent 14 batters to the plate.

Montreal 11, Florida 8--Jeff Fassero broke a personal four-game losing streak, pitching 5 1/3 innings and giving up only one earned run at Miami in helping the Expos win for only the third time in 12 games.

The Expos had 12 hits and 10 runs in their first four at-bats, scoring once in the first, three times in the third and six times in the fourth, and David Segui had three hits and three RBIs.

San Francisco 4, San Diego 1--William VanLandingham (1-2), the Giants’ best starter last season, won his first game of 1995, giving up eight hits in 7 2/3 innings, then leaving things for closer Rod Beck, who earned save No. 13 at San Francisco.

Mark Carreon homered and drove in three runs off Scott Sanders (5-5) to give the Giants their third consecutive victory after five losses in a row.