Friday, June 15, 2001 - At Busch Stadium II: The Cardinals used the long-ball to facilitate a 10-3 bashing of the Chicago White Sox - as an injury-plagued Mark McGwire had the type of game reminiscent of 1998 - four hits (including a pair of home runs), three runs scored and four runs driven in.
Cardinals starter Andy Benes (6-4) held the White Sox to three runs in 6.2 innings - good enough to win - especially when pinch hitter Bobby Bonilla turned a slim 4-3 St Louis advantage into an 8-3 blowout, with an eighth-inning grand slam home run.
White sox starter Jon Garland (2-3) only allowed three runs himself, in five innings pitched. But he was tagged with the loss thanks to a bullpen that was clobbered for seven runs over the final three innings.
Edgar Renteria and Placido Planco had driven in two of the four runs for the Redbirds, prior to Bonilla's bases loaded blast.
McGwire's second home run of the night - an eighth-inning two-run shot - closed out the scoring for the Cardinals (34-32) - who had been struggling to stay above .500 for most of the season.
That struggle would continue all the way to the All Star break. After salvaging the last game of a three-game series at Cleveland, St Louis was in fact, just a .500 ball club, with a 43-43 record. A strong second half (50-26) got them in the postseason - as a wild card.
Cardinal fans are no doubt hoping for similar results in 2014. Don't worry. They'll start hitting again.
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