Another day, another two home runs for Sammy Sosa.
Sosa hit his 50th and 51st home runs Sunday, joining Babe Ruth and Mark McGwire as the only players with four 50-homer seasons.
"I'm not going to lie to you. I am very happy to be in that category with Mr. Mark McGwire and Babe," Sosa said.
While closing in on Barry Bonds for the major league homer title, Sosa is keeping the Cubs close in the NL Central race.
Sosa's latest homers led Chicago over the St. Louis Cardinals 6-1 at Wrigley Field. The Cubs trail Houston by three games.
Sosa has 16 home runs in August, including a pair of three-homer games.
"Sammy's having a phenomenal year," McGwire said. "He's doing everything and more."
Sosa hit No. 50 in the first and added No. 51 in the fifth. Both shots came against Dustin Hermanson and resulted in curtain calls.
Backed by Sosa's four RBIs, rookie Juan Cruz earned his first major league victory.
Sosa has reached at least 50 homers in four straight years. McGwire did it from 1996-99 and Ruth did it in 1920-21 and 1927-28.
METS 6, GIANTS 5: Al Leiter kept Barry Bonds in the park and keyed New York's go-ahead rally in the seventh with a rare hit of his own to lead the Mets over San Francisco.
Bonds came within about one foot of his major league-leading 56th homer but had to settle for a triple and another homerless day at Shea Stadium. He hasn't gone deep in his past 30 games at the Mets' home stadium.
BRAVES 9, DODGERS 2: Slumping Andruw Jones hit a pair of two-run homers, and Atlanta won for only the third time in 11 games at Turner Field.
Mark DeRosa and Marcus Giles also homered as the Braves opened a two-game lead over Philadelphia in the NL East. John Burkett won his fourth straight decision.
DIAMONDBACKS 4, PHILLIES 3 (10): Reggie Sanders homered in the 10th inning, and Luis Gonzalez hit his 48th home run as Arizona beat Philadelphia.
Curt Schilling pitched at Veterans Stadium for the first time since being traded from Philadelphia to the Diamondbacks in July 2000. He got cheers from the crowd of 35,093 when he took the mound, but later heard boos in going six innings.
ASTROS 3, PIRATES 1:Ron Villone, starting in place of Pedro Astacio, struck out eight in 5 1/3 innings as the NL Central leaders won at Pittsburgh.
REDS 17, EXPOS 4:Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 457th career home run and Cincinnati romped in its highest-scoring game since a 24-12 victory at Colorado on May 19, 1999.
PADRES 10, MARLINS 0: Kevin Jarvis pitched seven strong innings, and San Diego won at Florida.
Rickey Henderson scored his 2,229th run in the Padres' eighth, leaving him 16 shy of Ty Cobb's career record.
ROCKIES 3, BREWERS 2: Larry Walker hit a three-run homer that led Colorado over Milwaukee at Miller Park.