SAN DIEGO - Sammy Sosa homered to tie Mike Schmidt for ninth on the career list at 548, and Greg Maddux pitched eight strong innings to lead the Chicago Cubs over the Padres 6-1 Friday night.
Cubs leadoff hitter Jose Macias hit a bases-loaded triple into the leftfield corner with one out in the ninth. He also tripled in the eighth and scored. Macias and Moises Alou each had three hits.
San Diego's Ismael Valdez couldn't have served up a fatter pitch for Sosa, hanging a chest-high curveball opening the fourth that the slugger drove an estimated 417 feet into the first row of seats in centerfield, where it hit a fan's glove and fell onto the field. It was Sosa's ninth and gave the Cubs a 2-1 lead.
Corey Patterson also homered to help give Maddux his 22nd win in 40 career starts against the Padres.
Maddux held the Padres to five hits and one run, with four strikeouts. He didn't walk a batter for the third straight start.
Maddux moved past Cy Young into 15th on the career list with 2,800 strikeouts. Maddux won four Cy Young Awards, from 1992-95.
Maddux dodged trouble after allowing consecutive singles to Phil Nevin and Ryan Klesko to open the second. Nevin scored on Miguel Ojeda's one-out single to right before Maddux got rookie Khalil Greene and Valdez to ground out.
Patterson homered just to the right of the 396-foot sign in straightaway center leading off the third.
CARDINALS 6, MARLINS 3: Host St. Louis roughed up World Series MVP Josh Beckett and got dominant pitching from Jason Marquis.
Ray Lankford homered, Hector Luna had two run-scoring singles and Jim Edmonds doubled twice, drove in a run and scored twice to help the Cardinals win for the fourth time in five games.
Beckett, who shut out the Yankees in Game 6 to clinch the World Series title, gave up six runs on nine hits in six innings. He had allowed two earned runs in 14 innings in his previous two starts.
Beckett dropped to .500 this season (3-3) and for his career (20-20).
Marquis allowed two runs on five hits in 72/3 innings with two strikeouts and two walks. He retired 13 of 14 between the second and sixth innings, and the Marlins didn't strand a runner until leaving two on in the seventh.
BRAVES 2, BREWERS 0: J.D. Drew and Chipper Jones hit consecutive homers in the eighth, sending Horacio Ramirez to his first win of the season for visiting Atlanta.
Drew and Jones connected off Luis Vizcaino, who started the eighth in relief of Victor Santos. Vizcaino retired the first two before Drew hit his seventh home run of the season and Jones his fourth.
Drew homered for the third game in a row.
Ramirez, who had lost a career-worst three straight decisions, allowed five hits in eight innings while striking out five and walking three.
John Smoltz worked a perfect ninth for his sixth save in seven tries.
Santos, making his third major-league start, struck out six and walked two while giving up five hits and no runs in a career-high seven innings.
PHILLIES 6, ROCKIES 4: Pat Burrell homered and drove in four and Bobby Abreu also connected as Philadelphia improved to 6-1 on its 10-game road trip. Eric Milton won again and Burrell went 3-for-4 with a walk. Helped by three double plays, Milton allowed three runs in six innings despite walking five and yielding seven hits. Former Devil Ray Vinny Castilla and Burnitz homered for Colorado.
REDS 2, DODGERS 1: Former Devil Ray Paul Wilson pitched seven strong innings to improve to 5-0, and visiting Cincinnati took advantage of Kazuhisa Ishii's wildness. Ishii walked seven in four innings, three during the Reds' two-run fourth.
METS 8, ASTROS 3: Cliff Floyd hit a grand slam in the third to help visiting New York to its second three-game winning streak this season. Mike Piazza hit his seventh homer for the Mets, who have won eight of 12.
PIRATES 4, GIANTS 2: Daryle Ward tied it with a two-run homer, then singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth to lead visiting Pittsburgh.
EXPOS 4, D'BACKS 3: Orlando Cabrera's run-scoring single lifted visiting Montreal. Brian Schneider hit his fourth home run for the Expos, who snapped a four-game losing streak. Arizona's Steve Finley hit his major league-leading 12th homer.
