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Sosa hits 599th career blast to lead the Rangers

Jun 16, 2007 - 3:55 AM CINCINNATI (Ticker) -- Sammy Sosa returned to the site in which he hit his 500th home run after a two-year absence and belted a grand slam as the Texas Rangers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-6, on Friday night.

Sosa, who has 25 home runs in Cincinnati (nine here) used his ninth career grand slam off Matt Belisle to give the Rangers a 7-4 lead in the fifth inning and creep within one homer of becoming the fifth member of the 600 home run club. He hit his 500th career home run in this park off Scott Sullivan on April 3, 2003, the first week of its existence.

"This city has been my lucky charm," Sosa said. "Everytime I come to Cincinnati I play different. I want to do the same thing tomorrow."

Sosa waited a season-high 17 games since his last home run but the outcome of the game was more important.

"Everybody that plays the game goes through those," Sosa said. "We were fighting for a win. When you play as long as I have, there are a lot of milestones. It's going to happen sooner or later. I'm not going to stop at 600."

Texas manager Ron Washington, echoed the sentiment of the man, who took a year away from the game. "He may look bad at times but when we need runs, he finds a way to get them," Washington said.

After Sosa's drive, Adam Dunn belted a two-run homer off Texas starter Vicente Padilla in the bottom half that landed within five rows of the top of the right field stands, pulling Cincinnati within 7-6. The blast tied teammate Ken Griffey Jr., Albert Pujols and J.J. Hardy for second in the National League with 16 home runs.

Dunn also doubled in the second inning and singled in the fifth on a popup that landed five feet past third base in fair territory. Texas third baseman Ramon Vazquez failed to reach the ball because of the defensive shift.

Padilla (3-8) allowed six runs and 12 hits in five innings. Four relievers bridged the gap to closer Eric Gagne, who recorded his seventh save in as many chances.

"Padilla battled and got us five innings and he didn't give up the big runs," Washington said. "We got good middle relief."

C.J. Wilson struck out all three of the Reds' lefthanded hitters in his 1 1/3 innings.

"Cincinnati has some tough lefties," Washington said. "I needed (Wilson) to them and he did. I needed him to get those two outs in the next inning (7th) and he did."

Belisle (5-5) also lasted five frames, being charged with a season-high seven runs and nine hits.

"He made a bad pitch to Sosa, and he paid for it," Cincinnati manager Jerry Narron said. "He wanted it off the plate and he got it over."

Sosa opened the scoring with a first-inning RBI single and Ramon Vazquez homered in the second for a 2-0 edge.

The Reds halved the deficit in the bottom half on an RBI doubled by Edwin Encarnacion and tied the game at 2-2 on an RBI single by Griffey in the third. David Ross homered in the fourth and Scott Hatteberg plated a run with a base hit later in the frame for a 4-2 lead, before the Rangers shot back.

Vazquez reached on a one-out single, Padilla beat out a bunt and Frank Catalanotto brought home a run with a double. After a walk to Michael Young, Sosa drilled a 0-1 offering to right-center.