Sweet 16: Sosa Sets June Homer Mark

Sammy Sosa insists he’s no Mark McGwire. He just hits home runs like him.

Sosa hit two homers for the second consecutive day and set a major league record with 16 home runs in June, leading Kerry Wood and the Chicago Cubs past the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday, 9-4, at Chicago.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. The game of baseball hasn’t seen anything like it,” teammate Mark Grace said of Sosa’s hot streak.

Wood (7-3) hit his first big league home run and struck out 11 in 7 1/3 innings.

Sosa had a two-run homer in the third and hit a towering three-run blast in the sixth that landed on the roof deck of a building across Waveland Avenue behind the left-field bleachers.

“He was just trying to show me up,” Wood said, laughing, about Sosa’s second shot.

Over his last 21 games, Sosa has hit 20 home runs and driven in 40 runs, and has 29 homers for the season.

Sosa, who hit two Friday against the Phillies and three on Monday against Milwaukee, has 28 career multi-homer games.

The second homer, against Toby Borland, was McGwire-like in its height and distance. It was officially registered at a modest 440 feet.

“I’ve seen a lot of home runs here but that’s the farthest I’ve ever seen one go,” Grace said.

Sosa played down any comparisons to McGwire, who leads the majors with 33 home runs.

“Mark McGwire is the man. Everybody knows he’s the man,” Sosa said.

Babe Ruth (1930), Bob Johnson (1934), Roger Maris (1961) and Pedro Guerrero (1985) also had hit 15 home runs in June. The major league record for most home runs in any month is 18, set by Detroit’s Rudy York in August 1937.

The Cubs have nine games left in June.

Florida 8, New York 3--Livan Hernandez out-pitched Hideo Nomo and Todd Zeile hit a two-run homer as the Marlins beat the Mets at New York.

Hernandez (5-4) gave up eight hits, struck out four and walked two in the fourth complete game of his career.

Nomo (2-8), winless since April 28, before the Dodgers traded him, lasted five-plus innings for the Mets, giving four runs on seven hits and six walks.

Atlanta 5, Montreal 1--John Smoltz gave up four hits over seven innings in his return from the disabled list and Javy Lopez hit a three-run homer to lead the Braves at Montreal.

Smoltz (5-1), who was activated from the 15-day disabled list before the game, struck out eight and set down 11 in a row after giving up a one-out double to Jose Vidro in the first inning.

Houston 9, Cincinnati 8--Carl Everett’s two-out, bases-loaded double capped a four-run eighth inning for the Astros at Houston.

Jeff Bagwell added a three-run homer as Houston handed Cincinnati its seventh consecutive loss.

St. Louis 4, Arizona 2--Manny Aybar pitched six strong innings in his first start in nearly a month and Ray Lankford hit a two-run homer to lift the Cardinals at St. Louis.

The Cardinals have won five of six to climb to .500 for the first time since June 4 at 36-36.

Mark McGwire was 0 for 3 and was hit by a pitch.

Pittsburgh 4, Milwaukee 2--The Pirates’ Jon Lieber limited the Brewers to four hits in eight innings and hit a tiebreaking double in the seventh inning to lift the Pirates at Milwaukee.

Lieber (5-8) broke a 2-2 tie when he hit Cal Eldred’s fastball into the gap in right-center, where it bounced into the stands, scoring Doug Strange.