McGwire Homers Twice in Win

Mark McGwire hit his 45th and 46th home runs, moving three ahead of Sammy Sosa for the major league lead, and Kent Bottenfield earned his 16th victory in the St. Louis Cardinals’ 7-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs Friday night at St. Louis.

“There’s no home run race,” McGwire said. “You don’t play for a home run race. The only reason a player puts on a uniform is to win a title.”

The game matched the top two home run hitters in the majors for the first time since the Cardinals visited Wrigley Field on May 28-30. Sosa, whose 66 homers last season were four behind McGwire’s record-setting 70, struck out twice in two at-bats with two walks.

“That’s a media thing,” he said. “I was in a home run derby three or four years with Ken Griffey in the American League and no one said anything about it. What’s the big deal?”

McGwire’s multihomer game was his sixth of the season and 59th of his career.

Bottenfield (16-5), who tied Houston’s Mike Hampton for the league lead in victories, gave up one run and five hits in 6 2/3 innings. J.D. Drew and Fernando Tatis also hit solo home runs for the Cardinals off Chicago starter Kyle Farnsworth (2-6).

Cincinnati 5, Philadelphia 4--Mike Cameron, Dmitri Young and Sean Casey hit consecutive one-out singles in the bottom of the ninth inning to lead the Reds at Cincinnati.

The Reds twice came from behind to win for the 14th time in 19 games and improve their home record to 29-29. Although they’ve got the best road record in the majors at 38-17, the Reds have not been above .500 at home this season.

Montreal 14-8, Colorado 13-6--Rondell White homered on the game’s first pitch, and Vladimir Guerrero added a two-run homer in the second game to lead the Expos to a doubleheader sweep at Denver.

Montreal won the first game when James Mouton scored on an error by Colorado first baseman Todd Helton with two outs in the 10th inning.

The doubleheader was prompted by the deadly shootings at Columbine High on April 20.

Pittsburgh 6, Houston 5--The Astros committed two errors in the 13th inning, allowing Brian Giles to score the winning run at Houston.

Carl Everett hit two homers for the Astros, a three-run shot in the sixth inning and a solo homer in the 13th.

San Francisco 3, New York 2--Russ Ortiz pitched seven strong innings and Rich Aurilia and Marvin Benard each homered for the Giants at San Francisco.

Ortiz (13-8) struck out five and walked three to outduel Masato Yoshii (7-8) and the Mets, who dropped one game behind Atlanta for the East lead.

Yoshii gave up three runs--two earned--and four hits in six innings. He struck out three and walked two.

Milwaukee 3, Arizona 1--A strong pitching performance by Hideo Nomo gave Jim Lefebvre a victory in his first game as the Brewers’ interim manager at Phoenix.

The Brewers’ victory, one day after firing manager Phil Garner, ended Arizona’s five-game winning streak. It was only the Diamondbacks’ fifth loss in 22 games.

Nomo (10-5), who had lost his last three starts, gave up four hits in 6 2/3 innings. He struck out four and walked four.