Sosa Regains Form, Belts Nos. 50 and 51

After seeing St. Louis’ Mark McGwire go on a home run rampage the past five days, Chicago’s Sammy Sosa’s swing has gotten a little bigger. And it’s hurt him.

“I’m not going to lie to you. Lately, I’ve been swinging a little bit out of control. I was impatient the last couple of days,” Sosa said.

He made the corrections Sunday, hitting his 50th and 51st homers for the Cubs in a 13-3 loss at home to the Houston Astros.

Sosa’s 51 homers are the second-most in the club history and left him trailing McGwire by two for the league lead and 10 behind Roger Maris’ record of 61.

Hack Wilson holds the Cub and NL record with 56 homers in 1930.

“We are trying to make the playoffs and Mark’s trying to break the record. I got my money on Mark,” Sosa said. “He’s the type who can hit five or six in two days.”

But Sosa homers weren’t enough to get the Cubs in a tie with the New York Mets for the wild-card spot.

Craig Biggio hit a pair of three-run homers as the Astros increased their NL Central lead to 9 1/2 games over the Cubs.

Astro starter Jose Lima (13-6) went eight innings to win his fifth consecutive decision.

Arizona 4, New York 3--The Mets and Cubs may be in a playoff race reminiscent of 1969, but these Mets could perform no miracles at home.

A day after they rallied from a four-run deficit, the Mets scored only once with bases loaded and no outs in the ninth and lost to the Diamondbacks.

The Mets loaded the bases against Gregg Olson on singles by Brian McRae and pinch-hitter Lenny Harris and a bunt single by Luis Lopez.

But Olson struck out Matt Franco, got Carlos Baerga on an RBI grounder and retired Tony Phillips on a game-ending groundout for his 22nd save.

Still, the Mets are 6-3 on their homestand with one game left and seem to have survived a stretch that included seven games in a four-day span.

Colorado 5, Philadelphia 2--Mike Lansing broke open a 2-1 game in the sixth with a three-run homer and John Thomson won his third consecutive decision as the Rockies won at Philadelphia.

Thomson (8-8) gave up nine hits and two runs in seven innings. He struck out six and walked one.

Rockies right fielder John Vander Wal also helped by throwing out two runners trying to advance into scoring position.

San Diego 13, Milwaukee 11--After combining for 16 runs, 20 hits and six errors in four innings, the Rockies and Brewers were in for a long day.

So long, in fact, that nine innings weren’t enough to settle a game that Jim Leyritz finally did with a two-run double in the 10th at Milwaukee.

Greg Vaughn set a career-high with his 42nd homer, a 455-foot shot in the third inning that was the longest homer at County Stadium this season. He had 41 homers in 1996.

Padre starter Andy Ashby, who was looking to become the NL’s first 17-game winner, had his shortest outing of the season. He gave up eight runs and 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings.

San Francisco 10, Florida 5--Barry Bonds entered uncharted ground with a homer that made him the first player in major league history to hit 400 home runs and steal 400 bases.

It also helped the Giants gain ground in the wild-card race as they defeated the Marlins at Miami.

Bonds reached the unprecedented milestone in the second inning with his 26th homer against Kirt Ojala. Bonds has 438 career stolen bases.