Sosa’s Three Home Runs Carry Cubs to 16-3 Win

Sammy Sosa hit three home runs and drove in six runs Wednesday, helping Kevin Tapani win for the first time in almost 11 weeks as the Chicago Cubs routed the Milwaukee Brewers, 16-3, at Chicago.

Sosa hit solo, two-run and three-run homers for his second three-homer game this month. He had three home runs against the Colorado Rockies on Aug. 9.

Sosa, who has 14 homers in August, has 49, one short of his National League-leading total last season. He was removed after his last at-bat, a solo blast in the sixth inning.

Tapani (9-10) was 8-1 after defeating the Brewers on June 2, but had not won since. Chicago had averaged 2.7 runs a game in Tapani’s last 13 starts.

But the Cubs had nine runs after the first three innings Wednesday and Tapani was on his way. He gave up three runs and six hits in seven innings, striking out seven.

Arizona 6, Pittsburgh 0--Albie Lopez pitched his first National League shutout and Mark Grace hit a three-run homer during a four-run first inning at Pittsburgh.

Lopez (3-3) made his third consecutive strong start, pitching a four-hitter for the fourth shutout of his career and his first since April 13, when he pitched the Tampa Bay Devil Rays past the Baltimore Orioles, 2-0.

Lopez didn’t allow a runner past first base until the ninth inning. He struck out seven and got 23 out either in the infield or by strikeouts.

The Diamondbacks won for the 10th time in 11 games, and increased their National League West lead to 2 1/2 games over the second-place San Francisco Giants.

Montreal 7, San Francisco 1--Javier Vazquez pitched eight strong innings and Geoff Blum’s three-run home run capped a six-run third inning for the Expos at Montreal.

Vazquez (13-11), who had not given up a run since Aug. 7, extended his career-best streak of scoreless innings to 23 innings before giving up Jeff Kent’s run-scoring double in the fourth.

Barry Bonds had one hit, walked twice and scored for the Giants.

Vladimir Guerrero hit a two-run double against Shawn Estes (8-8) to spark Montreal’s six-run third.

Guerrero had two doubles and a single, and stole two bases.

Estes, 1-6 in his last 11 starts, gave up six hits and six runs in three innings.

Atlanta 6, San Diego 3--Greg Maddux helped Atlanta avoid its longest home losing streak in 11 years.

Chipper Jones, Brian Jordan and B.J. Surhoff homered for the Braves, who ended a six-game losing streak at Turner Field.

Atlanta had not dropped seven in a row at home since April 12-28, 1990.

Maddux (17-7) gave up three runs and three hits in eight innings before leaving after Mark Kotsay’s leadoff homer in the ninth.

Cincinnati 3, St. Louis 1--Left-hander Lance Davis (6-2) singled home a run and shut down streaking St. Louis for seven innings at Cincinnati.

St. Louis dropped to third place in the National League Central, a game behind the second-place Cubs.

Davis (6-2) muffled a lineup that was hitting .290 in August and averaging 5.6 runs, best in the National League. The rookie gave up two singles, five walks and one unearned run.

The Cardinals took another loss when their protest of a play in the ninth inning of Monday’s game against the Reds was rejected.

The Cardinals argued that runner Wilton Guerrero interfered with second baseman Fernando Vina’s attempt to field a grounder, but the umpires ruled that Vina interfered with the runner.

St. Louis led, 2-1, at the time but the play enabled the tying run to score. The Reds won, 5-4, in 11 innings.

Philadelphia 2, Houston 1--Robert Person (11-6) gave up two hits in eight innings and Scott Rolen drove in both runs at Philadelphia as the Phillies ended a season-high five-game skid.

Houston had its five-game winning streak ended and is two games ahead of second-place Chicago in the National League Central.

Philadelphia remained one game behind first-place Atlanta in the National League East.

Jose Mesa pitched the ninth for his 32nd save in 34 opportunities.

Rolen’s two-run single against Wade Miller (13-7) with two out in the third inning gave the Phillies a 2-0 lead.

New York 2, Colorado 1--Kevin Appier and two relievers combined on a two-hitter and Desi Relaford hit a two-run homer at New York.

Appier (7-10) gave up a leadoff homer to Todd Helton in the second inning. He struck out seven and walked three.

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Slammin’ Again

Sammy Sosa is on pace to surpass several statistics from his MVP-winning 1998 season:

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1998 2001 Played Proj. 159 Games 159 Games At-bats 643 557 Runs 134 137 Hits 198 183 Doubles 20 38 Home Runs 66 63 RBI 158 162 Walks 73 114 Strikeouts 171 156 Batting Avg. .308 .328 Slugging Pct. .647 .722

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SOSA’S HOME RUNS BY MONTH

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1998 2001 April 6 7 May 7 8 June 20 11 July 9 9 August 13 14* September 11

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* Cubs have eight more games scheduled in August.