Griffey’s 494th Homer Lifts Reds

Ken Griffey Jr. says he isn’t fueled by the drive for 500 home runs. His inspiration Monday was souvenir World Series championship rings the Florida Marlins handed out to fans.

Griffey passed Lou Gehrig on the all-time home run list with a go-ahead, three-run drive in the seventh inning that helped the Cincinnati Reds beat the Marlins, 9-7, at Miami.

It was the 13th home run this season for Griffey and the 494th of his career, moving him into sole possession of 20th place.

“They’ve got something that I want, and they were showing it today: that big old ring,” Griffey said.

The Reds’ Sean Casey homered twice and raised his major league-leading average to .394.

Chicago 3, Houston 1 -- Greg Maddux earned the 293rd victory of his career and Moises Alou homered to lead the Cubs at Chicago.

Maddux gave up seven hits in 6 2/3 innings, including Lance Berkman’s ninth homer in 13 games.

Colorado 7, San Diego 1 -- Jason Jennings gave up four hits in eight innings and the Rockies dropped the host Padres into a first-place tie with the Dodgers in the National League West.

San Francisco 8, Arizona 4 -- Barry Bonds homered at Phoenix, his fourth in six games, and the Giants won their 10th consecutive game for their longest winning streak since winning 11 in a row in 1998.

New York 5, Philadelphia 3 -- Jason Phillips homered for the third time in two days and the Mets ended a four-game skid in a game delayed twice for a total of 3 hours 40 minutes because of rain at Philadelphia.

Atlanta 8, Montreal 2 -- Rookie Nick Green’s first home run, a three-run drive, highlighted a six-run seventh inning at Atlanta and came after Manager Frank Robinson elected to walk Rafael Furcal to get to Green.

St. Louis 8, Pittsburgh 3 -- Scott Rolen ended a 2-2 tie in the third inning at Pittsburgh with a three-run homer against Kris Benson, giving him a major league-leading 53 runs batted in.