Sosa Blasts Cubs Past Struggling Braves

Sammy Sosa refused to gloat about his 53rd home run, even though it was one of the most impressive of his career.

“As a player, I’m really not allowed to do that,” Sosa said. “If you want to, be my guest.”

Sosa hit a 471-foot shot Saturday off Greg Maddux that was the longest ever at Turner Field, and the Chicago Cubs won, 5-3, over Atlanta to give the Braves their third consecutive defeat.

“I just don’t want to make much of it because that’s the way I am,” Sosa said. “I’m just glad it helped my teammates relax.”

The Cubs won their fourth in a row. They remain 11/2 games lead over San Francisco in the National League wild-card race.

The Braves lost for the 13th time in their last 17 home games and fell into a first-place tie with Philadelphia in the NL East.

Sosa hit his two-run homer in the first inning, connecting on a 3-2 pitch from Maddux (17-8).

San Diego 7, Arizona 5--Ray Lankford’s grand slam highlighted the Padres’ six-run eighth inning in their come-from-behind victory at San Diego.

Arizona led, 5-1, going into the bottom of the eighth before San Diego rallied off five Arizona relievers.

Rickey Henderson led off with a double against Miguel Batista and scored on D’Angelo Jimenez’s single. Ryan Klesko singled off Eric Knott, who was making his major league debut, and Phil Nevin walked against Erik Sabel to load the bases.

Byung-Hyun Kim (4-4) came in and Lankford hit a 1-0 pitch deep into the right-field stands for his sixth career grand slam to make it 6-5. Damian Jackson added a run-scoring bunt single.

San Francisco 2, Colorado 1--Andres Galarraga hit a solo home run with two out in the ninth to give the Giants a dramatic victory at San Francisco.

Justin Speier (1-2) retired the first two batters he faced, but Galarraga hit a 3-0 pitch into the left-field seats.

Robb Nen (4-3) retired the only batter he faced to pick up the victory. The Rockies had runners on second and third with two outs, and Nen came in to retire Juan Uribe on a groundout.

Philadelphia 4, Montreal 1--Robert Person hit a home run and pitched eight strong innings, and Scott Rolen also homered and had three runs batted in as the Phillies won at Philadelphia.

The Phillies have won only five times in their last 16 games. Person (13-6) gave up one run and three hits, and tied a career-high with 11 strikeouts, including his last five batters.

Milwaukee 4, Houston 3--Richie Sexson hit two home runs, including a game-winner in the ninth inning that gave the Brewers a victory over the Astros at Milwaukee.

Sexson tied the score, 3-3, with a two-run home run in the sixth inning off Shane Reynolds before connecting for his 35th of the season on the second pitch from Mike Jackson (4-3) in the ninth.

New York 3, Florida 2--Jay Payton hit a two-out double in the 11th inning to give the Mets a victory over Florida at New York.

Jorge Toca, recalled from triple-A Norfolk earlier in the day, singled off Juan Acevedo (0-3) with one out in the 11th. One out later, Payton laced a line drive into the right-field corner to score Toca.

Pittsburgh 7, Cincinnati 0--Dave Williams allowed three hits in 61/3 innings to win for the first time in more than two months, leading the Pirates to an easy victory at Cincinnati.