McGuire Hits Another Milestone

April 11, 1998 / 10:54 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Mark McGwire didn't want any attention for his 1,000th career RBI. In fact, he didn't know he got it.

"I didn't realize it," McGwire said Saturday after drawing a bases-loaded walk for the RBI milestone as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Francisco Giants 7-2.

"We had a great game. Everybody had a great game."

After Giants starter Shawn Estes (0-2) loaded the bases in the seventh, reliever Steve Reed hit Brian Jordan with a pitch to give the Cardinals a 3-2 lead. McGwire walked to force in another, and Ray Lankford's sacrifice fly made it 5-2.

"One-thousand RBIs just means I've been around a long time," McGwire said. "But I'm proud of it. It doesn't matter that it was a walk, any way you get on base it's important."

McGwire, the NL player of the week after batting .400 with four home runs in five games, went 0-4. Of his 1,000 RBIs, 638 have come off home runs.

"There's some significance because of the walk," said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. "He deserves some credit because he has a really tough strike zone and he draws 100 walks a year."

Royce Clayton added a two-run double in the eighth inning, Gary Gaetti homered and Willie McGee had two hits for the Cardinals. Kent Bottenfield (1-0) got the win in relief.

Estes, who won 19 games for the Giants last season, allowed five runs and five hits in 6 1-3 innings.

"It's still early, I'm not going to panic," Estes said about his slow start.

The Cardinals scored first in the third inning on Jordan's two-out RBI single.

San Francisco, which has dropped three of its last four games, tied it in the third when Barry Bonds doubled and scored on Jeff Kent's single off right-hander Matt Morris, who was activated from the disabled list earlier Saturday.

Morris, who showed promise as a rookie last season by going 12-9 with a 3.19 ERA, was sidelined at the start of the season with a sore right shoulder. He went five innings, allowing two runs and eight hits.

"We weren't going to go anywhere over 100 (pitches). As soon as we saw his stuff change we got him out of there," La Russa said. "But you saw how tough he was in the clutch."

Gaetti's solo shot, his first, gave St. Louis a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning.

With one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning, Darryl Hamilton hit a sacrifice fly to tie it for the Giants once again. Bill Mueller flied out to left, ending the threat.

San Francisco's Brent Mayne went 3-for-3.

Notes: The Cardinals activated Morris from the disabled list for Saturday's start. To make room for him on the roster, they optioned pitcher Braden Looper to Triple-A Memphis. ... The Giants have not homered in their first five home games. ... The ardinals are 4-1 on their first road trip of the season. ... Bonds has not homered in 54 at-bats, dating back to last season. His last homer was Sept. 23 at Colorado. ... The Giants are 0-4 in games where Mayne starts as catcher, as he did Saturday. They are 6-1 when Brian Johnson starts in that position. ... Bonds was 2-for-5 Saturday with two doubles. Over the past six games, he's hitting .320.

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