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| Wednesday, May 24 | |||||
| Cards add to mark, but have one taken away | |||||
| ST. LOUIS -- Mark McGwire and Ray Lankford hit back-to-back
home runs for the second straight game, connecting in the sixth
inning Wednesday night against Florida's Vladimir Nunez.
The Cardinals have hit back-to-back homers 13 times, two short
of the NL record set by the 1956 Cincinnati Reds. St. Louis' total
was reduced by one to 12 earlier in the day after consultation with
The Sporting News, Elias Sports Bureau and the Society for American
Baseball Research.
St. Louis hit three consecutive homers on April 6, but The
Sporting News and SABR count such occurrences as one consecutive
streak and not two. The major league record of 18 was set by the
1996 Seattle Mariners, who hit consecutive homers 17 times,
including one back-to-back-to-back occurrence.
Edgar Renteria and Jim Edmonds singled to start the sixth and
McGwire followed with his major league-leading 20th homer, a
towering drive to left center that landed in the first row of the
bleachers. Lankford hit another towering drive to give the
Cardinals a 5-1 lead. Both homers came on the first pitch.
McGwire has 542 career homers, six behind Mike Schmidt for
seventh place on the career list. He also reached 20 homers in
record time, doing it in 35 games. McGwire and Mickey Mantle had
the shared the record with 20 homers in 41 games, McGwire doing it
in 1998 and Mantle in 1956.
| ALSO SEE Big Mac's 20th sets mark as Cardinals cruise  | ||||