Sosa Slugs Way to Exclusive Club

Sammy Sosa hit his 50th and 51st home runs Sunday, powering his way into another exclusive club.

Sosa joined Mark McGwire and Babe Ruth as the only players in major league history with four 50-home run seasons.

“I’m not going to lie to you. I am very happy to be in that category with Mr. Mark McGwire and Babe,” Sosa said after leading the Chicago Cubs over the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-1, at Chicago. “I still got to continue. I’m not satisfied right now, the season is not over yet and we have a mission to finish in first.”

Sosa’s ninth multihomer game this season helped rookie Juan Cruz earn his first major league victory and kept the second-place Cubs three games behind first-place Houston in the National League Central.

Sosa sent a 3-and-2 pitch from Dustin Hermanson into the right-center field bleachers in the first inning for No. 50, a two-run shot that set off a loud ovation at Wrigley Field.

He added a solo shot off Hermanson (12-10) in the fifth. Sosa has reached at least 50 homers in four consecutive seasons, just as McGwire did from 1996-1999. Ruth reached 50 in 1920-21 and 1927-28.

“Coming from the Dominican Republic, I only have one chance to make it to the major leagues and to have that opportunity to come to the majors and become a good baseball player at that level, and now I’m in the record books,” Sosa said. “That’s a pretty good accomplishment for me.”

McGwire, sidelined because of a hamstring injury, saluted the man whom he surpassed for the home run titles in 1998 and 1999.

“Sammy’s having a phenomenal year. He’s doing everything and more,” McGwire said.

Sosa, who has two three home run games this month, has eight home runs in his last 10 games and 16 in August to move within four of major league leader Barry Bonds.

“One person will step above the other two in September,” McGwire predicted of the Bonds-Sosa-Luis Gonzalez home run race.

“It’s going to be interesting to see how those three guys get pitched down the stretch. I think the guy over in the other dugout [Sosa] wants to beat [Bonds] pretty bad.”

Cub Manager Don Baylor said he believes Sosa will overtake Bonds.

“I thought that all along. He’s a second-half hitter,”

Baylor said. “He’s been accustomed to hitting 50.”

Sosa grounded out to short in the third. With a shot at another three-homer game in the seventh, he hit a run-scoring single off Mike Timlin, giving him four runs batted in and 133 this season.

Cruz (1-1), making his second major league start, gave up four hits in 52/3 innings. He retired 12 in a row before J.D. Drew walked and Albert Pujols doubled with two out in the sixth.

The Cardinals averted a shutout on Drew’s run-scoring single off Kyle Farnsworth in the eighth.

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Arizona 4, Philadelphia 3--Reggie Sanders homered in the 10th against Cliff Politte (1-1), tying his career high with 28 home runs, and Luis Gonzalez hit his 48th at Philadelphia.

Curt Schilling pitched at Veterans Stadium for the first time since being traded from Philadelphia to the Diamondbacks in July 2000. He gave up three runs and five hits and struck out six in six innings. Byung-Hyun Kim (4-3) pitched the final two innings.

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Houston 3, Pittsburgh 1--Ron Villone (6-5) made his first start since June 20, replacing Pedro Astacio who had a stiff shoulder, and struck out eight in 51/3 innings at Pittsburgh.

Billy Wagner earned his 30th save.

The Astros have won eight of 10.

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New York 6, San Francisco 5--Al Leiter kept Barry Bonds in the park and keyed the go-ahead rally in the seventh with a hit of his own at New York.

Bonds came within a foot of a home run, but had to settle for a triple.

He hasn’t homered in his last 30 games at Shea Stadium, including two during last year’s playoffs.

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Cincinnati 17, Montreal 4--Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 19th home run and drove in four runs at Montreal in the Red’s highest-scoring game since a 24-12 victory at Colorado on May 19, 1999.

Griffey hit a two-run single against Bobby Munoz (0-4) in the second as the Reds scored eight in the first two innings. He added a two-run shot--his 11th in August--in the fourth for his 457th career home run.

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San Diego 10, Florida 0--Kevin Jarvis pitched six-hit ball for seven innings and D’Angelo Jimenez drove in three runs with three hits at Miami.

Jarvis (11-9), who struck out three and walked two, improved to 8-2 in 12 starts since June 25.

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Colorado 3, Milwaukee 2--Larry Walker hit a three-run home run in the fifth against Ruben Acevedo (3-2) at Milwaukee.