McGwire One-Ups Sosa

It took Mark McGwire only one at-bat to regain the lead in the home run derby.

McGwire, pinch-hitting in the ninth inning, hit his 63rd home run Tuesday night to move ahead of Sammy Sosa. He ended a six-game homer drought with a solo shot off Pittsburgh reliever Jason Christiansen in St. Louis’ 8-6 loss to the Pirates in the first game of a doubleheader.

“He’s been doing it for a year and two months, people cheering ‘C’mon Mark, we want you to hit one,’ ” Cardinal Manager Tony La Russa said. “Boom, he hits one! How does he do it? I have no idea, except that he’s remarkable.”

The Cardinal slugger did not start the opener as a precaution for his ailing back, and to allow more fans a chance to see him play. The games were sold out, but only about 10,000 fans were watching when the first game began.

The ballpark was filled and everyone was standing when McGwire, batting for leadoff hitter Delino DeShields, made his third pinch-hit appearance of the season with one out and nobody on in the ninth. On a 1-and-0 fastball that was down and in, he hit a towering drive measured at 385 feet into the bleachers in left-center field for his sixth career pinch-hit homer.

It was a gratuitous appearance given the Cardinals were down three runs, but La Russa said this was a special case. He would have liked to have had McGwire hit for reliever Jeff Brantley, who was up fifth that inning, but didn’t know if it would last that long.

“You sit around and wait for that, you may not get there,” La Russa said. “I gave him a shot.”

Pirates manager Gene Lamont had no complaints.

“Under ordinary circumstances, you wouldn’t send McGwire up in that situation,” Lamont said. “But I understood why Tony did it. It was a good idea.”

McGwire has three homers against Pittsburgh pitching and was 12 for 24 with five RBIs, but none of the homers hurt the Pirates.

“I’ve enjoyed all three because they didn’t affect the games,” Lamont said.

The homer was McGwire’s first since he broke Roger Maris’ record with No. 62 on Sept. 8.