McGwire’s Slam Sparks Cardinals

Mark McGwire’s grand slam sparked a fourth-inning power surge Friday night that turned Jose Lima’s run at Houston Astro history into a highlight tape for the St. Louis Cardinals.

With a 422-foot drive to left-center in the Cardinals’ 11-8 victory at St. Louis, McGwire reminded the Cardinals he was back from a three-game absence. He also reminded Sammy Sosa that the home run race isn’t over yet, and reminded Lima that even 20-game winners can’t miss in the strike zone.

It was No. 56 for the Cardinal slugger this season and No. 513 in his career, moving him past Ernie Banks and Eddie Mathews into 11th place on the all-time list. Sosa failed to homer against Milwaukee, leaving his major league-leading total at 59.

McGwire’s blast gave the Cardinals the lead, but they didn’t stop there. On the next pitch, Thomas Howard hit a solo home run and Fernando Tatis followed with a homer of his own. Before it was finished, the Cardinals had scored nine runs.

“It was just one of those things,” McGwire said. “We got some hits, and they were home runs.”

It was the first time in 35 years and the fourth time ever that the Cardinals hit three consecutive homers. The last time it happened was July 19, 1964, against the New York Mets when Ken Boyer started the barrage with a grand slam and Bill White and Tim McCarver followed with homers.

Friday’s surge came at the expense of Lima (20-8), who gave up nine runs in 3 2/3 innings and failed in his attempt to tie Joe Niekro for the team record in wins.

Philadelphia 8, New York 5--Rookie Randy Wolf ended an eight-game losing streak and struck out 11 at New York.

Met catcher Mike Piazza was forced to leave after one inning because of a bruised left hand. The injury occurred when Ron Gant, the second Phillie batter, fouled off a pitch. X-rays were negative, but Piazza is expected to sit out tonight’s game.

San Francisco 4, San Diego 2--Rich Aurilia and Jeff Kent each hit two-run homers at San Diego to lift the Giants to their sixth consecutive victory.

The Giants have won 22 of 28 and pulled within six games of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West.

Aurilia went three for four, including his home run in the sixth inning against Andy Ashby (14-9) that put San Francisco ahead, 4-1. Kent homered in the first.

Florida 10, Arizona 6--Dave Berg had his fourth four-hit game of the season at Phoenix as the Marlins ended a seven-game losing streak.

Chicago 6, Milwaukee 5--Sammy Sosa didn’t hit home run No. 60, but his 10th-inning sacrifice fly at Chicago gave his second game-winning RBI in as many days.

Sosa, who went 0 for 3, has gone seven games without a home run, his longest power outage since a seven-game stretch from July 5-11.

Pittsburgh 3, Cincinnati 1--Todd Ritchie checked the suddenly slumping Reds on one run over eight innings at Pittsburgh.

Atlanta 6, Montreal 5--Chipper Jones hit a solo home run in the 10th inning at Atlanta as the Braves extended their American League East lead to two games.

With one out in the 10th, Jones hit a 1-and-1 pitch from Steve Kline (6-4) over the center-field fence for his 41st homer for the Braves, who had lost four of five.