McGwire Joins 50-Homer Club in 119th Game

L.A. Times Archives

Sept. 15, 1996 12 AM PT

From Associated Press

Mark McGwire became the 13th major leaguer to hit 50 home runs in a season, but Albert Belle countered with his 46th Saturday as the Indians completed a doubleheader sweep of Oakland with a 9-8 victory at Cleveland.

The Indians won the first game, 9-2, and extended their winning streak to six games by winning the second game.

McGwire, who hit his 49th homer in the first game, hit a two-run homer off Chad Ogea in the first inning of the second game for No. 50. The shot came in Oakland’s 150th game, giving him 12 games left to match Roger Maris’ record of 61 homers in 1961.

Belle was the last player to hit 50, doing it last year for Cleveland.

Belle’s 46th homer, a three-run shot off reliever Carlos Reyes, came during a five-run fourth inning off that helped the Indians overcome a 6-3 deficit.

In the first game, Charles Nagy (16-4) got his fourth consecutive victory.

Seattle 5, Minnesota 3--Paul Molitor moved within two hits of 3,000, but the Mariners capitalized on a throwing error in the 10th inning at Minneapolis.

Rich Amaral scored on shortstop Jeff Reboulet’s poor throw to first base as the Mariners closed within 3 1/2 games of Baltimore in the wild-card race.

Molitor went two for four in reaching 2,998 hits. He singled twice, and was robbed of another hit when shortstop Alex Rodriguez made a nice play, going into the hole to throw him out in the eighth.

Chicago 13, Boston 5--Danny Tartabull hit his 11th career grand slam and drove in six runs for the White Sox at Boston.

Tartabull had a sacrifice fly in the first and an RBI single in the fifth. He hit a grand slam, his 24th homer of the season, in the eighth.

Don Slaught hit a three-run double, highlighting a five-run first inning against Tom Gordon (10-9).

Milwaukee 8, Texas 6--Jeff Cirillo went three for five with a three-run home run for the Brewers, who handed the Rangers their fourth loss in a row at Arlington, Texas.

Cirillo chased Roger Pavlik (15-8) with his three-run shot in the sixth, pushing the Brewers lead to 7-1. Jesse Levis drew a one-out walk, Fernando Vina singled, and Cirillo brought them in with his 15th homer.

Milwaukee starter Scott Karl (13-7) won his third in a row, giving up five runs, four earned, and seven hits in seven-plus innings.

Baltimore 7, Detroit 6--Todd Zeile’s leadoff homer ignited a four-run rally in the seventh inning for the Orioles at Detroit.

Baltimore won for the seventh time in its last eight games, while Detroit lost its eighth in a row.

Baltimore trailed, 6-3, when Zeile led off the seventh with his fourth homer since the Orioles obtained him from Philadelphia. B.J. Surhoff and Roberto Alomar hit RBI singles and Brady Anderson drew a bases-loaded walk to give the Orioles a 7-6 lead.

New York 3, Toronto 1--Paul O’Neill hit a tying double and scored on Cecil Fielder’s single as the Yankees rallied in the eighth inning at Toronto.

New York trailed, 1-0, in the eighth when Bernie Williams led off by blooping a double inches inside the left-field line. O’Neill doubled to right-center with two outs, and Fielder followed with a single that scored pinch-runner Ruben Rivera for a 2-1 lead.

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Sultans of Swat

Players who have hit at least 50 home runs in a season with total, team and year:

* 61--Roger Maris, N.Y. Yankees, 1961

* 60--Babe Ruth, N.Y. Yankees, 1927

* 59--Babe Ruth, N.Y. Yankees, 1921

* 58--Jimmie Foxx, Philadelphia A’s, 1932

* 58--Hank Greenberg, Detroit Tigers, 1938

* 56--Hack Wilson, Chicago Cubs, 1930

* 54--Babe Ruth, N.Y. Yankees, 1920

* 54--Babe Ruth, N.Y. Yankees, 1928

* 54--Ralph Kiner, Pittsburgh Pirates, 1949