McGwire Homers, but Cardinals Routed

By the time Mark McGwire took aim at the scoreboard for real, it already displayed a lopsided score.

McGwire’s 34th homer wasn’t enough to overcome Cleveland’s seven-run first inning as the Indians played their own version of muscle-ball in a 14-3 rout of the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night at Cleveland.

“It’s really insignificant,” McGwire said of his first homer in 18 at-bats, a 433-foot solo blast off Jaret Wright in the fourth. “We got a real beating tonight.”

The Indians stole all the drama from the Cardinals’ first visit to Jacobs Field with seven runs in the first off Mark Petkovsek. Manny Ramirez hit his seventh career grand slam, and Travis Fryman added to the onslaught with a three-run shot.

McGwire, who hadn’t homered since hitting No. 33 in the upper deck at the Astrodome on Thursday, made it 7-1 with a majestic homer on a 1-1 pitch with one out. The homer drew a standing ovation from the sellout crowd of 43,321.

Chicago White Sox 4, Cincinnati 2--Frank Thomas and Magglio Ordonez homered as the White Sox won at Chicago to hand the Reds their 11th consecutive loss.

It was a fun night for the White Sox, who won their third game in a row for the first time this season.

“We were joking on the plane last night [coming home from Pittsburgh] that this was our ‘three-peat,’ ” Thomas said. “It was good to hear laughter on the plane.”

The laughter didn’t last in the clubhouse after Wednesday’s game with the news that right-hander Jason Bere will be bumped from the rotation and replaced by James Baldwin. Bere, who is 3-7 with a 6.34 ERA, has asked to be traded.

“I’d like to get out of here,” Bere said. “Obviously, I’m not in their plans. If I was, I think I’d get the ball every fifth day.”

“I understand how Jason feels,” said Baldwin, who was 2-3 with a 6.98 ERA in eight starts before he was demoted to the pen. “I was in the same situation.”

Toronto 7, Montreal 6--Roger Clemens needed all the runs he could get but picked up his first win in five interleague starts as the Blue Jays won at Montreal for their fourth consecutive victory.

Ed Sprague hit a two-run home run to cap a five-run first against Shawn Boskie (1-1) and Carlos Delgado led off the third with his 12th home run as Toronto jumped out to a 6-0 lead. Former Expo catcher Darrin Fletcher went three for four with two RBIs.

Milwaukee 3, Minnesota 1--Jeromy Burnitz hit his 17th home run and Steve Woodard held the Twins to one run in 5 1/3 innings as the Brewers beat the Twins at Minneapolis.

New York Yankees 10, Atlanta 6--The Yankees gained the upper hand in the Summer Classic, going ahead with four runs in the fourth inning and cruising behind David Cone at Atlanta.

The Yankees have won two of three interleague games between the teams that entered the day with baseball’s best records. The final regular-season meeting is tonight at Turner Field.

Detroit 7, Chicago Cubs 6--The Cubs’ Sammy Sosa tied the major league record for home runs in a month, but the Tigers rallied for an 11-inning victory on Gabe Alvarez’s RBI single at Detroit.

New York Mets 6, Baltimore 3--Rick Reed, who toyed with a perfect game for nearly seven innings of his last two home starts, pitched seven innings at New York to lead the Mets over the Orioles.

Mike Piazza went three for four with a homer and Brian McRae also homered for the Mets. Reed gave up nine hits and no walks, and also contributed at the plate with a single and two sacrifices.

Philadelphia 11, Boston 8--Mike Lieberthal had three RBIs as the Phillies tied their season high for runs, defeating the Red Sox at Philadelphia.

Rookie Carlton Loewer (2-0) gave up eight hits and seven runs in six-plus innings while walking two and striking out four in only his third major league start. Mark Leiter worked the ninth for his 15th save.

Florida 8, Tampa Bay 4--Derrek Lee hit a three-run homer and drove in four runs as the Marlins beat former teammate Tony Saunders and the Devil Rays at Miami.

Todd Zeile added a two-run shot and finished with three hits as the Marlins won for the fifth time in seven games.

Colorado 8, Houston 6--Dante Bichette and Todd Helton homered as the Rockies overcame a six-run deficit and two homers by Jeff Bagwell to beat the Astros at Denver.

Oakland 7, San Francisco 6--Matt Stairs’ pinch-hit grand slam in the eighth inning gave the Athletics a victory over the Giants at San Francisco, overshadowing a big night by Barry Bonds.

Stairs’ second grand slam of the season, and the fourth of his career, came off Steve Reed.

Bonds homered for the second game in a row, a solo shot in the first that was his 17th of the season, and added an RBI single in the seventh.

Texas 3, Arizona 2--Juan Gonzalez drove in two runs, increasing his major league-leading total to 93, with a single and triple, and Rick Helling won his 11th game as the Rangers defeated the Diamondbacks at Phoenix.

Mark McLemore scored all three Texas runs after singling twice and hitting a solo homer.

Helling (11-3) joined teammate Aaron Sele with the most victories in the majors, winning his fourth straight start. Helling allowed two runs--one earned--and five hits in 7 1/3 inning.