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 (9-6) and Houston pitcher Roy Oswalt (14-6) 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 Ward hit consecutive homers, and Brad Ausmus added a pair of RBIs for Houston.

Wood was tossed in the sixth inning after arguing with home plate umpire Mark Carlson.

Oswalt 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.

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.

Cardinals 10, Pirates 6

PITTSBURGH (AP) Scott Rolen hit a three-run homer and Albert Pujols drove in four runs as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Rolen, who was 6-for-40 (.150) in his first 11 games after being traded July 29 from Philadelphia to the Cardinals, has now homered and driven in three runs in two straight days.

Pujols had three hits, including a two-run double and a two-run homer.

Tino Martinez also homered as the Cardinals stretched their NL Central lead to 2½ games over idle Cincinnati with their fourth win in five games. St. Louis had lost five in a row on the road.

Brian Giles hit his 30th home run for Pittsburgh. After losing for the fifth time in six games, the Pirates are a season-low 14 games under .500 at 52-66.

The game started 62 minutes late because of rain.

Winner Jason Simontacchi (8-4) had gone six starts without a victory since defeating San Diego 4-1 on July 3.

Brian Meadows (0-3) took the loss.

Rockies 1, Marlins 0

MIAMI (AP) Jason Jennings became the winningest rookie in Colorado history and Todd Helton hit an RBI double as the Rockies beat A.J. Burnett and the Florida Marlins.

Burnett (11-9) lost despite pitching a four-hitter and striking out nine. He leads the NL with six complete games.

Jennings (13-5) surpassed Armando Reynoso's franchise record of 12 wins by a rookie in 1993.

The only run scored in the fourth. Larry Walker drew a one-out walk and scored on Helton's double to left field.

Jose Jimenez pitched the ninth to earn his 31st save in 34 chances. He got Luis Castillo on a grounder with a runner on third to end it.

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