Cubs’ Sosa Collects 50th, 51st Homers and a $540 Bounty

If Sammy Sosa keeps up his home run pace, Cub teammate Mark Grace might go broke.

Sosa hit his major league-leading 50th and 51st home runs Saturday--his second two-homer game in as many days--to help the Cubs end a five-game losing streak with an 8-6 victory over the Colorado Rockies at Chicago.

“He might hit 80,” Colorado Manager Jim Leyland said. “He’s hitting two a day.”

Before the game, Grace posted an incentive list offering teammates $100 for a home run, $50 for an RBI, $50 for a run and $20 for a hit. After Saturday’s game, Grace owed Sosa $540.

“I told him he should do that every day,” Sosa said. “Now I can pay for my car.”

Sosa hit a solo homer with two out in the fourth inning off John Thomson (1-6) and a three-run homer to highlight a seven-run sixth. It was Sosa’s 39th multi-homer game and sixth this year.

Sosa, who hit 66 homers last season, became the fourth player to post consecutive 50-homer seasons, joining Mark McGwire, Ken Griffey Jr. and Babe Ruth.

“After the year I had last year, a lot of people thought I wasn’t going to do it again,” Sosa said. “The team is not doing as well but until we finish I’ve got to go out and perform and do my job. I have to say, thank you, God, for giving me the opportunity to come back again and hit over 50 home runs.”

Atlanta 6, San Diego 2--Greg Maddux won his sixth consecutive start but injured his right wrist when he misplayed a foul ball in the sixth inning at Atlanta.

Maddux, who might miss his next start, suffered a severely strained wrist and will undergo further evaluation and testing after the swelling goes down, according to Atlanta spokesman Jim Shultz.

Maddux (16-6), who has not lost since July 21, gave up eight hits, two runs and struck out nine in seven innings. He didn’t walk a batter.

Tony Gwynn had two hits off Maddux to move within six of Lou Brock for 19th place on the all-time list with 3,017.

New York 7, St. Louis 4--Pat Mahomes (7-0), Turk Wendell and Armando Benitez teamed to pitch six innings of one-hit relief with 11 strikeouts, and Mike Piazza homered again for the Mets at New York.

The Mets, who won for the 21st time in 28 games, had to rely on their relief pitchers after starter Kenny Rogers was forced to leave after the third inning because of back spasms with the Mets trailing, 4-3. But the Mets’ bullpen bailed him out, stretching its scoreless streak to 24 2/3 innings.

Piazza homered for the fifth time in six games, hitting a three-run shot off Kent Mercker (6-5) in the first.

Houston 5, Florida 4--Jeff Bagwell hit the Astros’ fourth homer of the game, a ninth-inning shot that led to a win at Miami.

“I guess we know why Bagwell walked six times Friday, huh?” Florida Manager John Boles said.

In the first game of the series, Bagwell tied a 61-year-old major league record with six bases on balls. But with the score 4-4 and one out in the ninth, Brian Edmondson (5-7) threw a 3-and-2 fastball to Bagwell, who hit it 410 feet, over the wall in center field.

“In those situations, I don’t see too many fastballs,” Bagwell said. “It was nice.”

Houston rookie Glen Barker broke a seventh-inning tie with his first major league home run. Carl Everett and Bill Spiers also homered for the Astros.

Arizona 4, Pittsburgh 2--Randy Johnson withstood Kevin Young’s two home runs at Pittsburgh to beat the Pirates for the fourth consecutive time over two seasons.

Johnson held the Pirates to six hits but his streak of six consecutive games with at least 10 strikeouts ended--he struck out eight. Johnson needs only eight strikeouts for his third 300-strikeout season and the 28th in major league history.

Cincinnati 9, Montreal 3--Aaron Boone and Eddie Taubensee hit their first career grand slams to lead the Reds at Cincinnati.

The Reds were the only team in the majors without a grand slam before Boone homered off Mike Thurman (5-9) for a 5-2 lead in the sixth inning.

Taubensee hit another slam in the seventh, off Bobby Ayala, the third time in franchise history the Reds had two grand slams in a game.