McGwire Swings, Misses--With His Glove

If Mark McGwire had to hit against Atlanta pitching all of the time, Roger Maris’ home run record would be as safe as a sequoia in a whirlwind.

McGwire was 0 for 4 Thursday night, dropping him to three for 23 against Braves pitching, and remained at 54 homers in the Cardinals’ 6-4 loss at St. Louis.

Worse, his error led to three of the Atlanta runs.

“I’m not Inspector Gadget,” McGwire said, referring to a cartoon character known for his high-tech accessories. “You go over there and think you have it, and it hops over your glove.”

McGwire has seven homers in the Cardinals’ last 11 games, but he popped out in the first inning against Denny Neagle (13-11), took a called third strike in the fourth, fouled out to first base in the seventh and grounded to shortstop in the ninth against Kerry Ligtenberg.

“I think the reason why guys make mistakes and he takes them deep is because they get so cautious and so timid, and be so precise that they end up making the bigger mistake,” Neagle said. “If you can be aggressive and just try to pitch to his weaknesses, you can get him out.”

Neagle gave up one hit over the first six innings and struck out nine for the Braves, who won for the sixth time in seven games. The Cardinals have lost six in a row.

McGwire, two homers ahead of Chicago’s Sammy Sosa, has 29 games remaining to catch the record of 61, set by Roger Maris in 1961.

The most notable play for McGwire came with two outs in the second inning and runners on first and second. He went to his left for a grounder by Ozzie Guillen and made a stab at the ball instead of trying to get in front of it.

The ball bounced past him down the line and Javy Lopez and Andruw Jones--both of whom reached on two-out singles--scored. Neagle, a .140 hitter with only two RBIs coming in, followed with a run-scoring double for a 3-0 lead.

“Down the line, it’s tough,” McGwire said. “But I thought I should have had it. I thought I had it, and the next thing you know it’s over my glove.”

McGwire prides himself on his fielding, often complaining that part of his game is forgotten. He won a Gold Glove in 1990, when he had five errors, but he has a team-leading 10 this year.

“He’s thrown a couple balls away,” Manager Tony La Russa said. “He’s got a few extra errors, there’s no doubt about it.”

McGwire’s highest error total was 12 in 1995, when he tied for most among AL first basemen. He has had 10 errors in two other seasons.

St. Louis made two other errors, allowing a total of four unearned runs.

San Diego 8, Philadelphia 1--After seven injury-plagued seasons in the minor leagues, Stan Spencer gave up five hits and struck out seven in six innings to win in his major league debut at Philadelphia.

The Padres swept the three-game series, their first sweep in Philadelphia since June 3-5, 1969, when the Phillies played in Connie Mack Stadium.

Spencer, 6-0 in seven starts at triple-A Las Vegas before being called up Wednesday, struck out six in the first four innings, including a string of four in a row.

He also benefited from a struggling Phillie team that has lost five in a row, scoring only seven runs in the process.

Ken Caminiti, Ruben Rivera and Andy Sheets homered for the Padres, who finished their 10-game trip at 7-3.

Cincinnati 12, Florida 3--Sean Casey drove in five runs and Bret Boone homered twice for the Reds, who roughed up Livan Hernandez and the Marlins’ bullpen to win at Cincinnati.

Casey drove in three runs with a double in the second inning against Hernandez (10-10), who threw 96 pitches in lasting only three innings. The World Series most valuable player matched the second-shortest start of his career, giving up four runs, seven hits and six walks.

Casey singled home two more runs with his third hit of the game in the seventh inning.

Reliever Brian Edmonson gave up solo homers to Boone and Barry Larkin, and the Reds sent 10 batters to the plate for six runs in the seventh inning off Andy Larkin. Boone added a three-run homer, his 15th.

Milwaukee 4, Arizona 0--Rafael Roque limited the Diamondbacks to two hits through seven innings in helping the Brewers to their first shutout in more than a year, a win at Phoenix.

Roque, a 26-year-old left-hander making only his third start since being recalled from triple-A Louisville, gave up only Travis Lee’s soft single to center field in the second inning and Jay Bell’s leadoff single to right in the seventh.

Roque (2-1) walked two and struck out five. Reliever Eric Plunk pitched two perfect innings for his first save as the Brewers became the last team in the majors to shut out an opponent.

They had gone 163 games without a shutout since beating Detroit 6-0 on Aug. 24, 1997.

Chicago 11, Colorado 10--Sammy Sosa didn’t take advantage of hitter-friendly Coors Field, but teammates Mark Grace, Brant Brown and Mickey Morandini did in giving the Cubs a win in 10 innings.

Morandini delivered the winning hit in the 10th, tying Chicago with New York in the NL wild-card race, one game ahead of San Francisco.

Lance Johnson reached on a fielder’s choice grounder, stole second and scored on Morandini’s third hit of the night, a one-out single to right off Mike Munoz (2-2).

Grace had three hits hits and four RBIs, and Brown had a three-run homer for the Cubs, who rallied from a 9-3 deficit and had 19 hits.