McGwire Homers in Cardinal Loss

Mark McGwire hit his major league-leading 27th home run in the first inning for St. Louis, but Quilvio Veras’ RBI single with one out in the ninth lifted the San Diego Padres to a 3-2 victory over the Cardinals on Saturday night.

Veras’ single off Jeff Brantley (0-1) fell in front of diving right fielder Brian Jordan, scoring Carlos Hernandez with the winning run.

Hernandez reached on a two-base error by second baseman Delino DeShields, who dropped a fly ball when he and Jordan collided in shallow right field. Andy Sheets’ sacrifice bunt advanced Hernandez.

McGwire finished one for three with a walk and is tied with Texas’ Juan Gonzalez for the major league RBI lead with 66.

The Padres tied the score, 2-2, with two out in the eighth when Ken Caminiti doubled in Steve Finley, who had singled to right and advanced on Tony Gwynn’s groundout. Caminiti, who was on the disabled list from May 2 to May 23 because of a strained left quadriceps, limped into second and was replaced by Ed Giovanola.

Andy Ashby (6-4) pitched his second straight complete game and third of the season, giving up two runs and nine hits, including McGwire’s homer.

McGwire already has broken the major league record for home runs by the end of May--Ken Griffey Jr.’s 24 in 1997--and needs five more to claim the June mark--Griffey’s 32 in 1994. Both players chased Roger Maris’ record of 61 last year, McGwire finishing at 58 and Griffey at 56.

Third base coach Rene Lachemann provided a testament to McGwire’s power. Lachemann normally stands well outside the coaching box when the slugger bats, but when McGwire rifled a foul ball toward the seats along the third base line in the first inning, Lachemann moved at least 10 feet farther back.

Ashby then threw the 0-and-1 pitch right down the middle of the plate and McGwire drove it an estimated 423 feet into the first few rows of seats in left-center field. It was McGwire’s 16th homer in May, breaking his own club record for homers in a single month. He had 15 last September. McGwire has 11 homers in as many games, including a two-run shot in Friday night’s 8-3 win over the Padres.