Sammy Sosa joined an elite club, hitting his 600th home run against his former team.

Sosa became the fifth member of the 600-homer club, hitting a solo shot in the fifth inning of Texas' 7-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs, his former team.

"It was something that cannot be explained," Sosa said. "Getting my 600th against the Chicago Cubs, and my first team (was) the Texas Rangers. It's like everything clicked. My emotions, I don't know what they are."

After driving a 1-2 pitch to right-center for a solo shot in the fifth inning of Texas' 7-3 victory, Slammin' Sammy bounced out of the batter's box with his trademark hop and thrust his right fist into the air before reaching first base. He was mobbed at home plate by his teammates while the scoreboard showed pictures of all five members of the elite club: Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Sosa.

The home run came off Jason Marquis (5-4), the 364th pitcher the 38-year-old Sosa has homered off in his 18 major league seasons.

"It was a cutter I left up in the zone," Marquis said. "I went away from my strength and he made me pay for it. Other than the fact that it cost us the game, it doesn't really matter."

Meanwhile, two younger sluggers hit key home runs to rally baseball's hottest teams to victories.

Matt Holliday erased a 1-0 deficit with a two-run shot and the Colorado Rockies beat the New York Yankees for the second straight day, 6-1. Vladimir Guerrero's three-run homer was the only hit in Los Angeles' six-run seventh inning, and the Angels rallied past the Houston Astros, 8-4.

The Rockies are 19-7 since May 22, the best in baseball during that time. They cooled off the Yankees, who came to town with 14 wins in their last 17 games.

"It's huge. Two games against the Yankees, we've given up two runs. You can't say enough about the pitching," said Holliday.

The pitching was provided by Jeff Francis (7-5), who allowed a run and five hits with one walk, striking out a career-high nine in seven spectacular innings.

Down 4-2, the Angels used a Houston error and four straight walks to tie the game. After a sacrifice fly by Orlando Cabrera, Guerrero hit Dave Borkowski's 1-0 pitch over the left-center fence for his 13th homer this season.

The Angels, tied for the best record in baseball, are 29-11 since May 9.

The news wasn't so good for the Dodgers and Red Sox. Los Angeles lost right-hander Jason Schmidt for the season to shoulder surgery, and Boston's Curt Schilling is headed to the disabled list because of soreness in his right shoulder.

The Cubs traded embattled catcher Michael Barrett and cash to the NL West-leading Padres, who had been involved in two heated dugout exchanges with Cubs pitchers, for backup catcher Rob Bowen and minor league outfielder Kyler Burke.

Marlins 5, White Sox 4Pinch-hitter Jason Wood hit a three-run homer off closer Bobby Jenks in the eighth inning for Florida as the host White Sox lost for the 19th time in 24 games.

Athletics 5, Reds 3Dan Haren (9-2) won his ninth straight decision and third consecutive start for host Oakland despite giving up two home runs in a game for the second time this year. Marcus McBeth (1-1) took the loss.

D'backs 7, Devil Rays 4Chad Tracy and Eric Byrnes hit three-run homers for host Arizona and Micah Owings (5-1) won his fourth straight decision.

Indians 10, Phillies 6C.C. Sabathia (10-2) pitched six innings for host Cleveland and joined Josh Beckett of Boston and John Lackey of the Los Angeles Angels as the majors' only 10-game winners.Jon Lieber (3-5) left due to a strained right ankle. He gave up seven runs and 10 hits over 5 1-3 innings.

Tigers 8, Nationals 4Visiting Detroit wrapped up the three-game series by pounding the Washington pitching staff yet again to give Jeremy Bonderman (8-0) his eighth straight victory.Detroit, which averaged better than 10 runs in the series, scored five runs in the sixth against Washington's bullpen. Carlos Guillen had two hits, including a home run in the fourth.

Blue Jays 12, Dodgers 1Frank Thomas hit his 497th career home run and Roy Halladay (8-2) won his third consecutive start for host Toronto.

Twins 6, Mets 2Torii Hunter hit a two-run homer and Scott Baker (2-2) pitched five effective innings for visiting Minnesota.Oliver Perez (7-6) allowed four runs and five hits in 5Z\c innings and the Mets lost for the 13th time in 16 games.

Red Sox 11, Braves 0Julian Tavarez (5-4) pitched seven scoreless innings for visiting Boston, which homered three times in the first two innings.J.D. Drew homered on the fourth pitch of the game from Buddy Carlyle (1-2). The Red Sox had five homers in all, and 10 of their 15 hits were for extra bases.

Orioles 7, Padres 1Rookie Jeremy Guthrie (4-1) allowed four hits over eight innings and visiting Baltimore snapped a nine-game losing streak.It was the first win for interim manager Dave Trembley. He replaced Sam Perlozzo, who was fired on Monday. The Orioles lost 12-6 in the series opener on Tuesday night.

Brewers 7, Giants 5Bill Hall hit a grand slam and drove in a career-high five runs, and host Milwaukee swept the struggling Giants to extend San Francisco's losing streak to seven.

Cardinals 7, Royals 6Ryan Ludwick homered leading off the bottom of the 14th inning off Jorge de la Rosa (4-8) for host St. Louis.Kip Wells (3-11) worked the 13th and 14th for the Cardinals.