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CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- They came to see Mark McGwire, but it was Jim Thome who put on a show. Thome belted three homers for the second time in his career as he powered the Cleveland Indians to a 14-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals and McGwire, who did not connect. Thome hit two-run homers in a three-run first inning, a five-run third and a six-run seventh. Snubbed for the All-Star Game, he moved into a temporary tie with Boston's Manny Ramirez and Texas' Alex Rodriguez for the American League lead with 25. "It's a great feeling to hit one home run, let alone three," Thome said. "I was fortunate to get some pitches to hit and I put them in play." "He had a big night," Indians manager Charlie Manuel said. "The first home run was on a changeup, the second was on a fastball and the third was on a sinker away and he went with it. Jimmy has a lot of power and he's in a good groove now." It was Thome's 17th career multi-homer game and first with three since July 22, 1994 vs. the Chicago White Sox. He also tied a career high in RBI established August 18, 1996 against Detroit. Thome batted in the bottom of the eighth against lefthander Steve Kline but struck out looking. Nevertheless, his eight interleague homers this season lead all players. McGwire singled, walked twice and bounced into a double play in four trips. He did end a drought of eight games without a hit. The active leader with 561 homers but just seven this season, McGwire walked in his final appearance in the eighth and the sellout crowd of 42,394 at Jacobs Field booed reliever Paul Shuey. Juan Gonzalez drove in three runs and Einar Diaz two more for the Indians, who also had eight doubles among their 15 hits and posted a season high in runs as they roughed up Cardinals All-Star Matt Morris (10-5). Morris gave up eight runs, seven hits and a walk in just 2 1/3 innings as he dropped to 2-4 on the road. "I knew he had a great arm," Thome said. "He throws 93-94 and has a good breaking ball. He's probably one of the better pitchers in the National League. We were fortunate to have a good night against him." "I didn't get my breaking ball over for strikes," Morris said. "I don't know if I was tipping my pitches but they were pretty comfortable in there." The beneficiary of the outburst was Charles Nagy (3-3), who beat a team other than the Yankees for the first time this season. The righthander allowed one run and seven hits in seven innings, walking two and striking out two. "I tried to throw strikes and get ahead of the hitters," Nagy said. "It helped that I got through the first inning and then we got three runs. I struggled in my last outing but I was lucky enough to get another start. That's the situation I'm in now." Cleveland improved to 7-2 all-time against St. Louis, which has dropped seven of nine overall. Thome's first homer came after an RBI double by Gonzalez. He hit a full-count pitch 394 feet into the right field seats to make it 3-0. In the third, Gonzalez doubled home two runs and Thome launched a 1-0 pitch 472 feet to deep right-center field for a 7-0 lead. Wil Cordero chased Morris with a double and scored on a double by Diaz. Thome's third homer came off Mike James and looped inside the left-field foul pole, making it 10-1. Diaz, Kenny Lofton and Omar Vizquel added RBI doubles later in the frame. "I hit the first two real well," Thome said. "On the last one, when I got to second base, I thought it was foul. But the umps got together and talked about it. I was surprised it was a home run." The Cardinals scored on Bobby Bonilla's RBI single in the fourth and Edgar Renteria's sacrific fly in the ninth. Cordero and Vizquel each had three hits for Cleveland. Gonzalez is batting .444 with four homers and 13 RBI in his last seven games.
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