Minutes after the news arrived that Mark McGwire had just homered in St. Louis, Sammy Sosa went slam-dancing Tuesday at Bank One Ballpark.
Sosa became the first player in Cubs history to hit grand slams in back-to-back games, cranking a 394-foot shot off Arizona’s Bob Wolcott to set a personal high with 41 home runs.
Sosa’s blast gave the Cubs a brief two-run lead, but Mark Clark and Tony Fossas quickly gave it up in a 7-5 loss to the Diamondbacks.
With the loss, the Cubs fell 3 1/2 games behind Houston in the National League Central and saw their wild-card lead over San Francisco sliced to 2 1/2 games.
After going 4,428 at-bats without a grand slam until Monday, which set a major-league record for grand-slam futility, Sosa managed to hit two in four at-bats Monday and Tuesday.
He has four homers and 12 RBIs in his last three games and remains four behind McGwire in the chase for Roger Maris’ all-time record of 61.
“I never pay attention to whatever McGwire or (Ken) Griffey do,” Sosa insisted.
“I love those guys, don’t get me wrong. But I’m with Chicago, and I have to worry about our game, our situation. I can’t follow every movement they make. I’m in a different world.”
Still, Sammy’s world is a cool place to be right now. He became the seventh player in National League history to hit grand slams in back-to-back games and the 17th player ever to do so.
“It’s always hard to get the first one,” he said. “Once you get it out of the way, the pressure is off.”
“Sammy has good years every year. This is just an extraordinary year,” manager Jim Riggleman said.
“It’s just a maturation process, just the work that he’s put in and it’s culminated in maximizing everything the guy can do.”
Sosa’s big clout gave the Cubs a 5-3 lead, but the Diamondbacks scored four runs off of Clark and Fossas in the bottom of the fifth to snatch the lead right back.
Karim Garcia’s bases-loaded triple to the right-field fence off Fossas cleared the bases to put Arizona up 7-5.
Clark (6-10), who had been extremely sharp in his first three outings after the All-Star break, looked helpless again.
He was hit hard from the first inning on and allowed seven runs on 10 hits in only 4 2/3 innings. He said the only pitch working was his fastball.
“It’s frustrating,” Clark said. “We scored five runs, and all of a sudden I gave it up.”
Sosa had two more at-bats after his grand slam, lining out to left with one on in the seventh and singling to center with two outs in the ninth.
Mark Grace then grounded out to hand Gregg Olson his 17th save.
After Sosa’s two homers on Monday, he said McGwire and Griffey . had the best chance of overtaking Maris.
“Our goal is to try to catch Houston,” he said.
But Sosa does have a few things in his favor.
He has 55 games remaining to hit 20 home runs and tie the record, although the record may already be broken by McGwire when, or if, Sosa gets there.
Of those 55 games, 23 will be at Wrigley Field, and four will be at Coors Field, one of Sosa’s favorite ballparks. Sosa has 28 home runs over his last 51 games, proving it can be done.
His best home run month has traditionally been August, when Sosa has averaged one home run for every 15.3 at-bats.
So can he hit 20 in 55 games?
“Whatever happens happens,” he said. “We still have two months to go.
“Let’s see what happens.”
