[AP photo]
Newly acquired Chicago Cub Fred McGriff, left, gets a handshake from St. Louis Cardinals' Mark McGwire before their game Sunday in Chicago.

CHICAGO -- They cheered Fred McGriff when he took a pregame jog in the outfield with new teammate Michael Tucker.

They cheered McGriff when he first walked to the ondeck circle. By the time he dug in to face Cardinals right-hander Matt Morris in the second inning, McGriff must have been wondering: What took me so long?

McGriff went 1-for-3 and Roberto Machado hit a two-run homer as the first-place Cubs beat the Cardinals 7-5 Sunday night. Chicago increased its lead in the Central to 4 1/2 games over Houston and 8 1/2 over St. Louis.

"On the plane this morning I tried to play everything out and I said, 'Fred, be aggressive,' " the former Rays slugger said.

"On that first day, you don't know what will happen. You just hope the Cubs win."

A trade was reached July 8 to send McGriff to the Cubs, but the five-time All-Star wasn't ready to make the move and invoked his no-trade clause.

On Friday, he agreed to a deal that gives him a player option for next season and adds a mutual option for 2003.

"When they first talked to me about the trade, I had about 48 hours or so to make a decision. I've been playing this game for a lot of years and I've been blessed with success. I just needed time to sit back and think about things a little," said McGriff, a Tampa native who has two young children.

In his Cubs debut, McGriff had a walk, run-scoring single, strikeout and liner to center.

He was greeted with a rousing standing ovation as he entered the batter's box in the second inning and waved his helmet to acknowledge the greeting before working a walk off Morris to start a four-run inning.

"It turned out to be huge for us because it got us on the board," McGriff said. "The fans were awesome."

After the walk, Ron Coomer followed with a double to left center, and Matt Stairs, who started in left after losing his first-base job to McGriff, hit a run-scoring single to right. When Albert Pujols overran the ball, Coomer scored on the error.

Machado, who gave his No. 29 jersey to McGriff and donned No. 72, then drove a long two-run homer to left to give the Cubs a 4-0 lead.

Tucker walked leading off the third, Sammy Sosa singled and McGriff got his first hit as a Cub, a single to right. Sosa scored on Coomer's groundout to make it 6-0.

GIANTS 4, D'BACKS 3: Marvin Benard hit a two-run pinch homer in the ninth off Byung-Hyun Kim as visiting San Francisco rallied to sweep the four-game series.

ROCKIES 3, DODGERS 2: Alex Ochoa singled in the go-ahead run in the ninth as visiting Colorado snapped a four-game losing streak. The loss was the third in 16 games for West-leading Los Angeles.

METS 6, PHILLIES 5: Mike Piazza homered with one out in the ninth to lift host New York to its third straight win over Philadelphia. Piazza's drive off Rheal Cormier made a winner of Armando Benitez, who blew his first save in 25 chances this season in the top of the inning.

BRAVES 8, EXPOS 1: John Burkett matched his career high with 11 strikeouts and added a run-scoring single to lead Atlanta. The Braves have won 22 of 27 road games to move a season-high three games ahead of second-place Philadelphia in the East.

REDS 8, MARLINS 4: Todd Walker's two-run double off the glove of lunging leftfielder Kevin Millar finished a five-run rally in the sixth as Cincinnati got its first home sweep of the season.

PADRES 12, BREWERS 5: Ryan Klesko and Bubba Trammell homered and Alex Arias hit a bases-loaded double for visiting San Diego, 9-0-1 in series against the Brewers since Milwaukee joined the league in 1998.

PIRATES 4, ASTROS 1: Todd Ritchie allowed one unearned run while pitching into the ninth to lead host Pittsburgh. Kevin Young drove in three runs for Pittsburgh.

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