Cubs Go Long and Win

Sammy Sosa and Nomar Garciaparra each hit one of Chicago’s season-high six homers, and the Cubs ended Houston’s four-game winning streak Friday night with a 9-2 victory over the Astros at Houston.

Mark Grudzielanek homered twice, and Moises Alou and Corey Patterson each hit two-run shots. Sosa’s 567th homer moved him to within six of Harmon Killebrew for seventh place on the career list.

It was the 28th homer of the season for Sosa, who also tied Mickey Mantle for 40th place on the career runs batted in list with 1,509.

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St. Louis 5-5, Pittsburgh 4-3 -- Scott Rolen became the third St. Louis player to hit 30 homers this season, and Chris Carpenter set a career best with his 13th win, leading the Cardinals in the second game to complete a sweep of the doubleheader at St. Louis.

Rolen homered in the second inning of the second game. He combined with Albert Pujols (37) and Jim Edmonds (31) to give the Cardinals three 30-homer players in one season for the first time.

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Philadelphia 4, Milwaukee 2 -- Jim Thome and Bobby Abreu homered, and Eric Milton (13-2) pitched seven solid innings at Milwaukee as the Phillies ended a seven-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory over the Brewers.

Thome’s 37th home run came in the ninth inning, tying him with Pujols, one behind major league leader Adrian Beltre of the Dodgers.

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San Francisco 7, New York 3 -- Pedro Feliz homered twice, Edgardo Alfonzo also connected and rookie Noah Lowry (3-0) had a career-high 10 strikeouts at San Francisco to help the Giants maintain a half-game lead in the wild-card race.

Feliz was in the lineup after Giant first baseman J.T. Snow was held out because of an inflamed bug bite on his left elbow.

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San Diego 6, Florida 1 -- Brian Lawrence pitched a five-hitter to match his career high for wins, and Ramon Hernandez hit a three-run homer at San Diego. Lawrence (12-10), who finished 12-12 in 2002, struck out four and walked two for his second win in eight starts.

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Cincinnati 2, Arizona 0 -- Randy Johnson struck out 14 to become the second pitcher to reach double digits 200 times, but still lost at Phoenix. Johnson (12-11) trails only Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan (215) in games with 10 or more strikeouts. Johnson yielded four hits in 7 2/3 innings and walked three -- Ryan Freel got two and scored both runs.

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Montreal 4, Colorado 3 -- Tony Batista hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the top of the eighth inning, and the Expos overcame a scary injury to first baseman Nick Johnson.

Johnson was injured in the third inning when a shot by Royce Clayton took an odd bounce and hit him between his right cheek and jaw.

He lay on the field for about 10 minutes, then was strapped to a stretcher and taken to a hospital for X-rays.