McGwire Connects in Cardinal Victory

Mark McGwire is starting to dominate again.

McGwire homered for the fourth time in five games Monday night, a three-run shot, as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Chicago Cubs, 6-2, at St. Louis, extending their home winning streak against the Cubs to 12 games.

“I think he’s getting real close, the way he’s stroking the ball,” Manager Tony La Russa said. “He’s very dangerous when he goes up there now.”

The Cardinals have won four in a row since a 1-8 trip, outscoring opponents, 32-11. At Busch Stadium, they’ve won seven in a row and 16 of 20.

McGwire, regaining his stroke since coming off the disabled list May 28 after a knee injury, hit his sixth homer of the season and 560th of his career in the fifth inning against Kevin Tapani (8-3). McGwire needs three homers to tie Reggie Jackson for sixth place on the all-time list.

“In my four at-bats tonight that was the only pitch to hit that I could get extended on,” McGwire said. “The rest of the time they were bearing it way in on me or away. That was the only ball to hit and I was lucky enough to get a hit.”

Sammy Sosa hit his 21st homer, the 407th of his career, with a 418-foot solo shot in the sixth. He has four homers in three games and is tied with Duke Snider for 32nd on the all-time list.

Milwaukee 6, Cincinnati 4--Jose Hernandez hit a two-run homer and the Brewers rallied for four runs in the seventh inning at Cincinnati to hand the Reds their seventh consecutive loss.

Chastised by Manager Bob Boone during a 25-minute pregame meeting, the major leagues’ worst home team blew another late lead and reached new depths in a star-crossed season.

The Reds are 7-25 at Cinergy Field, where they’ve lost eight in a row--their longest home losing streak since 1986, when they dropped 11 in a row. They’ve lost 20 of their last 22 at home, drawing catcalls and boos.

Florida 7, Atlanta 6--Javy Lopez’s throwing error on a potential inning-ending double play in the ninth allowed the winning run to score at Atlanta.

Florida, which erased a four-run deficit to beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Sunday, wiped out a 5-0 deficit against Brave starter Tom Glavine.

Houston 13, Colorado 5--Lance Berkman and Jeff Bagwell each had four RBIs at Houston and the Astros matched their season high for runs.

Berkman had a bases-loaded walk in the first, a run-scoring double in the fifth and a two-run double in the sixth.

Bagwell hit an RBI single in the sixth and a three-run homer in the eighth.

New York 2, Montreal 1--Darryl Hamilton hit a go-ahead single in the seventh inning at New York.

A day after Mike Piazza’s two-run homer highlighted a six-run eighth-inning rally in an 8-7 victory over the New York Yankees, the Mets were tied with the Expos, 1-1, in the seventh.

Joe McEwing singled against former Met Masato Yoshii (2-4), pitching in place of injured Hideki Irabu, and took third on Benny Agbayani’s single. He scored on a liner to right by Hamilton, who has only four RBIs in 44 games.

Reliever Matt Mantei of the Arizona Diamondbacks will have surgery today to repair a torn ligament in his pitching elbow and will sit out the rest of the season, the team said.