One, Two, Three... McGwire Lifts Cards

May 20, 1998 / 1:25 AM EDT / CBS/AP

Mark McGwire's latest home run feat made Philadelphia Phillies fans feel so good they didn't care he'd just cost their team a game.

They stood and applauded as McGwire's third two-run homer of the game gave the St. Louis Cardinals a 10-8 win over the Phillies on Tuesday night.

"It's a great feeling," McGwire said of the standing ovation he received as he rounded the bases following his eighth-inning homer. "I wish every player could experience something like that."

McGwire, who leads the majors with 20 homers, snapped an 8-8 tie with a 451-foot homer into the upper deck at Veterans Stadium. He'd hit two-run homers earlier in the game that carried 440 and 471 feet. It was the second time this season he'd hit three homers in a game.

"I'm at a loss for words," said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, who has seen all four of McGwire's career three-homer games, including the one he had April 14 this year against Arizona. "I've got to figure out where this one goes on the list."

It should rank pretty high. The three homers give McGwire 407 for his career, good enough for a tie with Duke Snider for 24th on the all-time list.

It was the 45th time in his career that McGwire has hit more than one homer in a game. Only nine players in major-league history have more multi-homer games.

On a pace to hit 75 homers this year, McGwire dismissed talk that he could break Roger Maris' record of 61 homers in a season.

"When somebody gets to 50 by September, then it's legitimate to talk about," he said. "Right now, I don't think it is."

The Phillies, who rallied from a 7-2 deficit to take an 8-7 lead, then watched McGwire win the game, were nonetheless impressed.

"Fans like to see offense, and those balls weren't exactly paint-scrapers," said Wayne Gomes (1-1), who gave up the game-tying homer to Ron Gant in the eighth, then McGwire's game-winning homer. "I'd pay to see a guy who hits like that."

The six RBIs tied a career high for McGwire, who leads the NL with 52. He has hit five homers in his last four games. McGwire is now the 12th player to have two three-homer games in a season.

"We know what he can do if you let him get his arms extended," Phillies manager Terry Francona said. "It looked like his arms were on backwards."

John Frascatore (1-2) got the win after allowing no hits in 1 2-3 innings. Juan Acevedo pitched the ninth for his second save.

McGwire helped the Cardinals build a 3-0 lead with his first homer of the night in the third. After the Phillies cut the lead to 3-2 in the fourth, McGwire's second homer started a four-run fifth that put St. Louis up 7-2.

But the Phillies scored four in their half of the fifth and two in the sixth to takan 8-7 lead before Gant's solo homer led off the eighth.

Two-run homers by Scott Rolen and Mike Lieberthal cut the Cardinals' lead to 7-6 in the fifth. In the sixth, they went ahead on Gregg Jefferies' sacrifice fly and on a run that scored as a result of an error by Tom Pagnozzi, St. Louis' fourth of the game.

Notes: Atlanta's Jeff Treadway was the last player to hit three homers in one game at the Vet, on May 26, 1990. Ironically, it was the night the Phillies were honoring their all-time home run leader, Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt. ... San Diego's Steve Finley was the last player to have two three-homer games in one season. He did it last year. ... McGwire's upper-deck shot was the first at Veterans Stadium this year, and the 49th hit into the left field upper deck. ... David Howard left the Cardinals to be with his wife Jill, who is expecting. ... Gant led off for St. Louis, the first time he's done that since 1996. ... The Cardinal homers extended the St. Louis streak of games with a homer to 11. ... Doug Glanville's first-inning single extended his hitting streak to 17 games, tying San Francisco's Bill Mueller for the longest in the majors this season. Glanville has hit in all but one of his last 32 games. ... The Phillies are wearing a patch on their sleeves in memory of Herbert H. Middleton, Jr., a limited partner in the team's ownership group who died May 11. The patch contains Middleton's initials.

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