Sosa’s Home Run Beats Astros in 10th

Carlos Beltran did all he could to keep the Houston Astros in the game. Then Sammy Sosa sent the Chicago Cubs home with a victory.

Beltran homered from both sides of the plate to help the Astros rally from a 4-0 deficit, but Sosa drove one out against Brad Lidge in the 10th to give the Cubs a 5-4 win Thursday at Chicago.

Sosa’s long homer to left on the first pitch from Lidge (2-4) was his 13th of the season and the 552nd of his career.

“It was right down the middle and he crushed it. In that kind of a situation, you can’t make a mistake and unfortunately I did and he got it,” Lidge said.

It was Sosa’s third homer since coming off the disabled list 13 games ago. He had a back injury brought on by a hard sneeze.

“I never doubted I was going to come back and help the team the way they want me to help,” Sosa said. “Be patient because I’m not going to do it every day. But I’ll be there.”

Beltran finished with four homers in the three-game series and extended his hitting streak to a career-best 15 games.

Arizona 7, San Diego 5 -- Roberto Alomar hit his first grand slam in four years and the Diamondbacks hung on to win at Phoenix.

The grand slam was the seventh of Alomar’s 17-year major league career but his first since Aug. 27, 2000, when he played for Cleveland against the Angels. Alomar, on the disabled list for 56 games because of a broken hand before he was activated on June 21, was five for 11 in the four-game series against the Padres.

Milwaukee 10, Colorado 9 -- Lyle Overbay hit a two-run double at Denver and Victor Santos earned his fifth win in six starts. Milwaukee led, 10-4, heading into the eighth inning, but Colorado scored five runs off Brooks Kieschnick and Luis Vizcaino to cut the lead to one.

Philadelphia 10, Montreal 5 -- Mike Lieberthal hit a three-run homer and drove in four runs for the Phillies at Philadelphia.

Pat Burrell had three hits and three RBIs, Randy Wolf pitched seven innings for his first win since April 30, and the Phillies took three of four from the Expos.

New York 7, Cincinnati 6 -- Al Leiter pitched seven shutout innings and the Mets hit four homers at Cincinnati.

Atlanta 9, Florida 1 -- Andruw Jones hit a three-run double and Eli Marrero followed with a homer during a six-run first inning at Atlanta.