Sosa Gets a Homer, Victory Over McGwire

Sammy Sosa seized the day in his first face-to-face meeting with friend and rival Mark McGwire.

The Cub star homered in his final at-bat Friday--his 17th of the season and 13th in the last 22 games--and Henry Rodriguez added two homers in the 6-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in Chicago.

“Anybody who likes to play this game, especially on a day like this with Mark and myself, it is motivation,” Sosa said.

“But you got to keep a low profile. You don’t want to be too excited. If you get too hyped, you are probably going to go out and have a bad day.”

McGwire went 0 for 4 and struck out twice. But he emphasized that the Cubs’ shift, one that left a gaping hole where the second baseman usually stands, as Jeff Blauser moved to the other side of the bag, had nothing to do with his performance. He’s seen such defenses before.

“Why would I look out?” said McGwire, who has 14 home runs. “I’m concentrating on the pitcher.”

Sosa, who lost last season’s remarkable home run derby to McGwire, 70-66, went three for four with two singles. He drove his homer to left in the bottom of the eighth off Heathcliff Slocumb, finally giving the sun-drenched crowd of 39,287 what they came to see.

Sosa singled in the second, chatted amiably with McGwire at first and then was involved in controversy at second. When Gary Gaetti grounded to third, a sliding Sosa was ruled safe when second base umpire Angel Hernandez ruled that second baseman Joe McEwing missed the bag before his relay.

Rodriguez then homered to give the Cubs a 2-1 lead.

Colorado 5, Philadelphia 3--Jeff Reed hit his first homer of the season, a tiebreaking solo shot in the seventh inning at Philadelphia that helped send the Rockies to victory.

Reed’s two-out shot came against Paul Byrd (6-3) and barely cleared the right-field fence for a 4-3 lead. Vinny Castilla hit his seventh homer in the ninth.

“You’re talking to the wrong guy if you’re looking for a slugger,” said Reed, who had 63 at-bats before the homer. “It was a good time to hit one. I got under it a hair and it just got out for me but I’ll take it.”

Montreal 4, San Francisco 2--Michael Barrett doubled home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning at Montreal, giving the Expos their first three-game winning streak.

Barrett followed Jose Vidro’s one-out single in the eighth with a double to the wall in right-center off Russ Ortiz to make it 3-2.

Mike Mordecai followed with an RBI single off reliever Felix Rodriguez to score pinch-runner Manny Martinez and make it 4-2.

Ortiz allowed four runs and eight hits in 7 1/3 innings to snap a personal five-game winning streak.

Anthony Telford (1-1) got the last out of the eighth for the win.

Florida 8, Cincinnati 1--The Marlins roughed up Steve Avery and got seven solid innings from Ryan Dempster to win at Miami under the leadership of third-base coach Fredi Gonzalez.

Gonzalez took over for Manager John Boles, likely out until Sunday because of a sprained neck. Earlier this month, Gonzalez was 0-2 when he filled in after Boles had back surgery.

Dempster (2-1) allowed one run and seven hits. The 22-year-old right-hander struck out six and matched his longest outing in the majors.

Avery (3-4) gave up six earned runs in 1 2/3 innings, his shortest start since getting only two outs as a member of the Atlanta Braves.

Arizona 2, New York 1--Omar Daal allowed four hits in seven innings to continue his success against the Mets and Andy Fox hit a two-run triple at New York.

Daal (5-4), who has beaten the Mets twice this season and is 4-1 against them in his career, retired 14 of 16 batters before allowing a homer to Benny Agbayani in the seventh.

The Mets nearly tied the game in the ninth off Gregg Olson. Mike Piazza led off with a single and one out later Robin Ventura singled.

Agbayani then hit a grounder to third baseman Matt Williams that appeared to be an easy double play. Jay Bell’s relay throw to first was wide, but Piazza, who appeared to jog to third, could not score when the ball got away from first baseman Travis Lee.

Olson walked pinch-hitter Matt Franco to load the bases and fell behind 3-0 to pinch-hitter Luis Lopez before striking him out.

San Diego 10, Milwaukee 8--Reggie Sanders and Dave Magadan hit consecutive solo homers in the first inning to start the trend at Milwaukee and help the Padres end a five-game losing streak.

Ruben Rivera added a two-run homer in the second off Cal Eldred (1-3) and Eric Owens hit a two-run shot in the fourth.

Milwaukee lost its fourth consecutive home game and fell to 5-15 at County Stadium.