McGwire Heats Up for Cardinals

Big Mac is starting to heat up.

Mark McGwire hit two home runs and Bobby Bonilla had a pinch-hit grand slam as the St. Louis Cardinals ended a four-game losing streak with a 10-3 victory Friday night over the Chicago White Sox at St. Louis.

“He’s going to get his home runs, it’s just a matter of time,” White Sox catcher Sandy Alomar said. “It started today.”

McGwire has three homers in the last three games and 559 overall, four behind Reggie Jackson for sixth place. He was four for five to raise his average to .224.

“This is basically my spring training, the third week of it,” McGwire said. “It’s been a constant battle. It’s not easy.”

Andy Benes (6-4) gave up three runs in 6 2/3 innings for the Cardinals, who began a 12-game homestand after a 1-8 trip that was their worst since July 1995.

The White Sox have lost only four of 20 games and were beaten for the first time in seven series openers.

McGwire, who started at first base for the ninth game in a row, hit his fourth homer leading off the fifth. He hit a 3-and-1 fastball from Jon Garland (2-3) over the center-field fence.

He hit his fifth homer, a two-run shot to left on a 2-and-2 pitch from Ken Vining with one out in the eighth. It was the 65th multihomer game for McGwire and his first since May 18, 2000, when he hit three at Philadelphia.

Seattle 8, San Diego 4--Freddy Garcia avenged his only loss by giving up four hits in eight innings, and the Mariners knocked Bobby Jones out in the fifth inning of an easy victory at San Diego.

It was the same pitching matchup as last Saturday night, when Jones and the Padres ended Seattle’s 15-game winning streak with a 6-3 victory at Safeco Field.

Garcia (7-1) gave up one unearned run and improved to 3-1 lifetime against the Padres. He struck out six, walked one and recorded 13 ground ball outs.

San Diego closed to 8-4 in the ninth on Rick Wilkins’ three-run double off Jeff Nelson, who walked the bases loaded.

Texas 12, Houston 9--Alex Rodriguez’s two-run single highlighted a five-run eighth inning and helped the Rangers rally for a victory before a record Enron Field crowd of 43,203 at Houston.

The Rangers overcame Moises Alou’s two home runs and five runs batted in to tie the intrastate interleague matchup at two games each. The winner of the six-game Lone Star Series gets the Silver Boot Trophy.

Alou’s hitting helped the Astros to a 9-7 lead before the Rangers’ big rally.

Boston 9, Atlanta 5--Trot Nixon hit a score-tying sacrifice fly in the ninth inning and a run-scoring single in the 10th as the Red Sox overcame the Braves and thousands of swarming moths to win at Atlanta.

The Red Sox rallied to make the score 5-5 in the ninth against John Rocker, who had converted his previous 15 save chances.

The Red Sox scored four runs in the 10th, three of them unearned, off Jose Cabrera (4-2). After Brian Daubach and Chris Stynes led off with singles, third baseman Chipper Jones made a throwing error that allowed the go-ahead run to score.

Chicago Cubs 5, Minnesota 3--Ricky Gutierrez homered in his first at-bat in nine days, and Ron Coomer hit a two-run shot against his old team as the Cubs won a matchup of unlikely first-place teams at Chicago.

Eric Young added another two-run homer for the Cubs, who are 18-5 since May 19.

Florida 7, Tampa Bay 4--A.J. Burnett pitched shutout ball into the ninth inning and Mike Lowell hit a three-run homer as the Marlins ended the Devil Rays’ three-game winning streak at Miami.

Burnett took a three-hitter into the ninth, but gave up three consecutive hits and left the game.

It was the fourth consecutive solid start for the 24-year-old right-hander. Burnett (5-2), who has pitched at least eight innings in each of his last four starts, struck out seven and walked none for the first time this season.

Detroit 5, Arizona 2--Robert Fick and Tony Clark homered as the Tigers rallied to defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first-ever meeting between the teams.

Clark’s 10th home run and second in as many games ignited a four-run seventh inning for the Tigers, who had managed only one hit off Miguel Batista through six innings.

Troy Brohawn (1-3) relieved Batista in the seventh and gave up four runs and five hits in two-thirds of an inning.

Pittsburgh 6, Cleveland 3--Brian Giles, still haunting the Indians three seasons after they traded him, hit a two-run homer and doubled to start a three-run third inning as the Pirates won behind left-hander Jimmy Anderson at Pittsburgh.

Anderson (4-6) had lost three in a row before limiting the Indians--the majors’ second-best road team with a 22-10 record--to two runs over seven innings.

Philadelphia 15, Baltimore 7--Bobby Abreu and Travis Lee hit home runs to spark a seven-run fourth inning and the Phillies ended a four-game losing streak at Philadelphia.

Scott Rolen and Johnny Estrada later homered for the Phillies as they set season highs for runs and hits (18).

Toronto 9, Montreal 3--Jose Cruz Jr. matched a career-high with four hits, including a solo home run, and Shannon Stewart and Carlos Delgado also homered at Montreal to lead the Blue Jays to their 14th victory in 20 interleague games against the Expos.

Kansas City at Milwaukee, postponed--A power outage at Miller Park forced the game to be suspended after a scoreless first inning. The game will be resumed today in the second inning. The Royals and Brewers will then play their regularly scheduled game.