CHICAGO (AP) Sammy Sosa connected again, hitting his major league-leading 40th home run and No. 490 of his career, but it wasn't enough as the Houston Astros beat the Chicago Cubs 9-6 Monday night.

Sosa now has five home runs and 16 RBIs in three games. Coming off a big weekend at Coors Field, his two-run shot made him only the third player in NL history with five straight 40-homer seasons.

Hall of Famers Ralph Kiner (1947-51) and Duke Snider (1953-57) also accomplished the feat.

In a game in which Cubs ace Kerry Wood and Houston pitcher Roy Oswalt were both ejected, the Astros took a 9-2 lead and held on.

Daryle Ward led the Astros with three RBIs and a career-high four hits, finishing a triple away from hitting for the cycle. Jeff Bagwell and Daryle Ward hit consecutive homers, and Brad Ausmus added a pair of RBIs for Houston.

Wood (9-6) was tossed in the sixth inning after arguing with home plate umpire Mark Carlson.

Oswalt (14-6) was ejected in the seventh after hitting Alex Gonzalez in the back in the seventh. Oswalt had already hit Fred McGriff in the second inning.

Wood allowed five runs and nine hits in 5 2-3 innings, striking out 10 and walking none. Oswalt gave up three runs and four hits in six-plus innings, striking out seven.

Billy Wagner pitched the ninth for his 26th save.

Sosa had one of the more impressive two-day stretches in baseball history Saturday and Sunday, homering four times and driving in an NL-record 14 runs at Colorado. He looked as if his seven-game hitting streak might be snapped, going 0-for-3 against Oswalt.

But with Oswalt in the clubhouse, Sosa worked rookie reliever Ricky Stone to a 1-1 count in the seventh. He then sent the next pitch soaring over the left-field fence.

Cubs fans gave him a standing ovation, continuing to applaud until he popped out of the dugout for a curtain call.

But Sosa's heroics came too late for the Cubs, who fell behind by seven runs before rallying in the seventh.

Todd Hundley hit a two-run homer in the seventh, and Corey Patterson and Gonzalez had consecutive homers in the fifth.

The Astros jumped on Wood early, as Bagwell hit an arching shot well over the left-field fence for a solo homer in the fourth. Ward followed with a homer to the bleachers in center.

The Cubs pulled within 3-2 on Patterson and Gonzalez's shots. But Ausmus made it 5-2 with his two-run single that prompted Wood's ejection.

Ward then gave the Astros a comfortable lead, hitting a two-run single up the middle that put Houston ahead 8-2.

Notes: Sosa needs three more homers to tie Lou Gehrig for 18th place on the all-time list. ... The Astros have hit back-to-back homers six times this year. ... Cubs 1B Fred McGriff left the game in the fifth inning with a bruised right shin. McGriff had been hit by a pitch in the second. ... Jim McMahon, quarterback of the Chicago Bears Super Bowl team, threw out the first pitch and sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."

The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press.