![[mcgwire]](/editions/1998/09/26/mcgwire_130x205.jpg)
Mark McGwire and umpire Kerwin Danely look down the line as a McGwire drive into the upper deck goes foul. McGwire then blasted his 66th HR.
(AP photo)
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Sammy Sosa passed Mark McGwire in the home run derby for the second time this season. The lead lasted only 45 minutes.
After Sosa hit his 66th homer Friday night in Houston, McGwire answered with his 66th in St. Louis to tie for the major league record. "He controls his destiny. I control my destiny. Like every other ballplayer in the country," McGwire said. "We get in the box, he has to battle, I have to battle."
The close chase is "one of those things that's unexplainable. Let's leave it unexplainable," McGwire added.
"Whoever's on top, nobody should be disappointed. We're two guys doing what nobody's done in this game.
Also on Friday night, Ken Griffey Jr. of the Seattle Mariners hit his AL-leading 56th homer, a three-run shot in the sixth inning against the Texas Rangers.
Griffey's homer off Eric Gunderson, which gave Seattle an 11-0 lead, tied his career high of 56 homers, which he hit last year when he was the unanimous AL MVP.
![[sosa]](/editions/1998/09/26/sosa_100x192.jpg)
Sammy Sosa hops out of the batter's box after hitting his 66th.
(AP photo)
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Sosa had led McGwire only one other time this season -- for about an hour -- after he slugged No. 48 in the Cardinals-Cubs game at Chicago on Aug. 19. McGwire hit Nos. 48 and 49 later in the game to retake the lead.
Sosa's 66th homer was a 462-foot leadoff shot in the fourth inning against friend and fellow Dominican Jose Lima. He lined an 0-1 pitch into the third deck in left-center field for his third homer of the year against Lima, who gave up Nos. 50 and 51 at Wrigley Field on Aug. 23.
When the scoreboard at Busch Stadium posted Sosa's homer, the pro-McGwire sellout crowd booed. But that quickly changed to cheers when McGwire hit a two-run shot in the fifth inning against Montreal reliever Shayne Bennett.
With a runner on first and two outs, McGwire hit a 1-2 pitch about 375 feet into the left-field stands. It was his second homer this year against Montreal and first since he connected off Trey Moore on April 21.
"I'm real happy what happened to me, what happened to Mark," Sosa said. "Mark is my friend, not my enemy."
He's also one of Sosa's biggest fans.
"He hits two in Milwaukee, one tonight. He's having a magical year," McGwire said. "Most likely, hands-down unanimous MVP."
Moments before his homer, McGwire had hit a towering shot to left that landed just left of the foul pole in the upper deck. Busch Stadium personnel inadvertently set off fireworks after the near miss, but the fans didn't have to wait long for the real thing.
Sosa tied McGwire at 65 with two homers Wednesday at Milwaukee, snapping an 0-for-21 slump.
McGwire also had been slumping, going 2-for-11 on the Cardinals' current homestand with two singles before homering Friday night.
McGwire and Sosa each have two scheduled games left, although Sosa could play an extra game if the Cubs end up in a playoff for the NL wild card. If Sosa homered in a playoff, it would count in the regular-season statistics.
The Cubs lost to the Astros 6-2 Friday night and remained tied for the wild-card lead with the New York Mets, who lost to Atlanta 6-5.
More home run coverage from Associated Press
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![[sosa]](/editions/1998/09/26/sosa_287x550.jpg)