McGwire Hits Pair, but Cardinals Fall

This home run race is far from over.

Mark McGwire hit his 53rd and 54th homers of the season Friday night, pulling within three of Sammy Sosa, but the Milwaukee Brewers came from behind to beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-4, in 11 innings at Milwaukee.

“I don’t play games for that, and I never will,” McGwire said. “We should have won, and we didn’t, and that’s the real story.”

After Sosa hit his 57th in the Chicago Cubs’ 8-6 loss to the Dodgers earlier in the day, McGwire answered with a pair of long shots into County Stadium’s left-field bleachers. Brewers starter Scott Karl gave up both homers, McGwire’s second and third in three games.

The second homer, a 434-foot drive to left-center off an 0-and-1 pitch in the fifth inning, tied McGwire with Mel Ott for 14th place on the all-time list at 511, one behind Ernie Banks and Eddie Mathews.

McGwire hit a 3-and-2 pitch from Karl 419 feet into the left-field stands in the first. His second homer gave the Cardinals a 3-0 lead.

But with disastrous relief pitching, the Cardinals blew the game and the chance to get highly touted starter Rick Ankiel his first major league win.

Houston 8, Montreal 1--Ken Caminiti homered twice and drove in six runs and Mike Hampton pitched seven strong innings at Montreal for his 18th victory.

Caminiti hit his seventh homer against Dan Smith (4-7) leading off the second and hit a two-run shot in the ninth. He added a sacrifice fly in the third and a two-run single in the seventh.

Hampton (18-3) won his ninth consecutive decision to join teammate Jose Lima as the only 18-game winners in the National League.

San Francisco 12, Pittsburgh 2--Jeff Kent hit the eighth grand slam of his career as the Giants romped at Pittsburgh to extend their winning streak to seven games.

Since coming off the disabled list, Kent has hit safely in 12 of 13 games, going 20 for 55 (.364) with five home runs and 20 RBIs. He was sidelined from Aug. 3-21 because of inflammation in his left foot.

Atlanta 7, Arizona 3--Kevin Millwood (15-7) gave up only one hit through seven innings and had a two-run single at Atlanta as the Braves won for the 13th time in 14 games.

Andres Galarraga, cured of cancer, was back in the Braves’ dugout for the first time this season. Still unable to play, he plans to provide moral support to his teammates.

Colorado 5, New York 2--Jeff Barry hit a three-run double in the 10th inning at New York against former Colorado reliever Chuck McElroy.

San Diego 6, Florida 3--Tony Gwynn hit a go-ahead, three-run homer in the seventh at Miami.

Philadelphia 10, Cincinnati 2--Curt Schilling pitched five strong innings at Philadelphia in his first start in nearly a month.