McGwire Smacks No. 47, but Cardinals Fall

Mark McGwire’s silent stretch is over.

McGwire regained sole possession of the home run lead, becoming the first National League player to hit 47 before September, as the St. Louis Cardinals lost to the New York Mets, 8-3, on Tuesday night at St. Louis.

“There’s a lot of August left,” Manager Tony La Russa said.

Entering the game, McGwire had not put a ball in play for 13 plate appearances--seven walks and six strikeouts--since hitting No. 46 on Saturday.

He doubled in the first inning and then hit a 464-foot drive off Bobby Jones in the fourth. The solo homer to left-center field ricocheted off a sign adjacent to the scoreboard.

“I didn’t even watch it,” Met center fielder Brian McRae said. “I knew it was gone. When he hits them, there’s no doubt.

“There’s no sense in running back to the wall when they’re hit like that.”

McGwire had been tied for the major league lead with Chicago’s Sammy Sosa, who connected twice Monday night. He claimed to be unaware of his slump, and of his latest achievement on the homer trail.

Hack Wilson entered September with 46 homers in 1930, finished with 56 homers and a record 190 runs batted in. Roger Maris hit 51 homers before September in his record 61-homer season in 1961.

“I wish I would have known all these things because when I’m always asked all these questions in front of all of you within 20 minutes after the game, I have no time to react, I have no time to think about it,” McGwire said. “Obviously, it’ll mean something to me.

“It’s a great honor to pass somebody like that, but I’d really like it to sink in.”

Edgardo Alfonzo had four hits as the Mets moved one-half game ahead of the Cubs for the NL wild-card spot.

Jones (9-8) earned the victory and hit a key two-run double off Kent Mercker (8-9) to help his cause.

San Francisco 8, Chicago 7--Jeff Kent hit two two-run homers and Barry Bonds added three RBIs as the Giants broke a five-game losing at San Francisco.

Sammy Sosa went homerless but scored three times. Sosa went one for two with two walks and was hit by a pitch.

The Giants, who wasted a 5-0 lead, trailed by a run in the seventh before Bonds tied the score with an RBI single and Kent connected off Terry Adams (7-7) for his 19th homer.

The Cubs had scored three in the top of the seventh to take a 6-5 lead. The tying run scored on a bases-loaded infield single by pinch-hitter Glenallen Hill that went about 20 feet toward third base.

The go-ahead run scored when the next batter, Tyler Houston, walked on four pitches from Jose Mesa (3-2)--the third time in eight games Mesa walked in the go-ahead run.

Robb Nen, the Giants’ sixth pitcher, followed Mesa and pitched the ninth for his 30th save.

Bonds, who had 10 RBIs in his last three games, had a two-run triple and Kent hit his first homer as the Giants scored five in the third off Kerry Wood, who gave up five runs, five hits and three walks in four-plus innings.

Wood struck out eight, moving past San Diego’s Kevin Brown into second place in the NL with 193. Philadelphia’s Curt Schilling leads the league at 226.

Houston 6, Milwaukee 5--Bill Spiers tied the score with a ninth-inning single and pinch-hitter Tony Eusebio drove in the winning run in the 10th to complete the Astros’ rally at Houston.

Houston, which has won five in a row, is 20-12 since the All-Star break and improved to 39-18 at home. It was the 20th time the Astros have won in their last at-bat and their 35th come-from-behind victory. They have won seven of 45 games in which they trailed after eight innings.

Mike Magnante (4-5) pitched a scoreless 10th to earn the victory and Eric Plunk (0-1) took the loss.

Arizona 7, Philadelphia 3--Tony Batista hit two home runs and Jay Bell had a homer and a run-scoring double as the Diamondbacks helped Andy Benes get his first victory at home in nearly three months.

Batista’s ninth and 10th homers marked the second time he has hit two in a game. He also did it on Aug. 26, 1996, in Baltimore when he was with the Oakland A’s.

Arizona tagged Portugal (6-3) for 10 hits, five of them in a four-run sixth inning. The Phillies lost for the 11th time in 13 games and fell to 2-6 on their 12-game trip.

Colorado 15, Montreal 6--Mike Lansing, Vinny Castilla and Todd Helton each drove in four runs in the victory at Denver.

Dante Bichette went four for four and raised his batting average to .347, three points behind NL leader John Olerud of the Mets. Bichette is 16 for 27 in his last six games.

John Thomson (7-8), backed by a 19-hit attack, won his second start in a row.

Pittsburgh 7, Cincinnati 0--Francisco Cordova pitched a six-hitter for his second shutout and Kevin Young and Jason Kendall homered at Cincinnati.

Cordova (10-10) had control problems--he walked four, pushing his total to 19 in the last 37 1/3 innings--but allowed only three runners to reach second. He struck out six and retired 10 consecutive batters over one stretch.