ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Mark McGwire passed one Hall of Famer and caught up with another.

McGwire homered in his first two at-bats, surpassing Jimmie Foxx and tying Mickey Mantle for eighth place on the career list with 536, as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 12-10 Sunday.

	Career HR Leaders
	1. Hank Aaron	755
	2. Babe Ruth	714
	3. Willie Mays	660
	4. Frank Robinson	586
	5. Harmon Killebrew	573
	6. Reggie Jackson	563
	7. Mike Schmidt	548
	8. Mickey Mantle	536
	Mark McGwire	536
	10. Jimmie Foxx	534

"I'm very honored," McGwire said. "It means I've been around a lot and it means I've been pretty consistent hitting home runs, and I'm pretty proud of it."

Next up is Mike Schmidt at 548.

"I've got quite a few more years to play," McGwire said. "So hopefully I'll keep moving up that ladder."

Manager Tony La Russa said he'll enjoy the chase.

"Bring your kids out, fans, so your kids can say they saw the big man play in a Cardinal uniform," La Russa said. "I'm 100 percent serious about that."

Craig Paquette, who had been 6-for-30 with one RBI since Fernando Tatis was hurt April 29, homered and was 5-for-5 with four RBI. Tatis was batting .375 with an NL-leading 28 RBI when he was hurt.

"It's going to be hard for anybody to fill those shoes," Paquette said. "That was a pretty impressive month he had.'

Jim Edmonds also homered and drove in three runs.

Eric Karros homered twice and had five RBI for the Dodgers, and Gary Sheffield and Todd Hundley also connected as the teams combined for a Busch Stadium record eight homers. The previous mark of seven was set April 9 when the Cardinals hit six and the Brewers one.

The Cardinals tied a season high with 17 hits and avoided a sweep.

"The wind's blowing out there and the weather's warm," Edmonds said. "The ball's going to fly."

McGwire passed Foxx with his 13th homer of the season and 535th of his career, a two-run shot off a 2-2 changeup from Carlos Perez in the first.

Edmonds and McGwire hit consecutive homers in the second, with McGwire sending a 1-0 split-finger pitch from Perez into the upper deck in left. McGwire's shot wrapped around the foul pole and was estimated at 487 feet, the longest homer at Busch this season.

"They were sitting dead on splitters and changeups," Hundley said. "We throw a fastball and they'd take it. We throw a good split or changeup, and boom, they'd hit it."

McGwire and Edmonds have homered six times in the same game, including Edmonds' last five homers. The Cardinals have hit back-to-back homers 12 times, two shy of the NL record set by Colorado in 1997.

The Cardinals ended a three-game losing streak, but the Dodgers made it close after trailing 7-0 after two innings and 9-3 after four.

Cardinals starter Pat Hentgen allowed six runs on eight hits in 4 1/3 innings. Hentgen has lost his last four decisions and has allowed 22 earned runs in his last 28 1/3 innings.

"He's fighting himself," La Russa said. "Normally that's not a good sign, the body language. I see him, earlier than he should, get upset with himself."

Perez (3-2) lasted only 1 2/3 innings, surrendering seven runs on eight hits.

"I could tell in the bullpen I didn't have my best stuff," Perez said. "My changeup wasn't very good."

The closest the Dodgers got was 9-8 after Sheffield hit his 12th homer, a two-run shot, off Heathcliff Slocumb (1-2) in the sixth. The Cardinals answered with three runs in the bottom of the sixth, with Paquette driving in his fourth run on his fourth hit and Mike Matheny adding a two-run single.

Dave Veres pitched the ninth for his seventh save.

Paquette, who set a career high for hits, and Edmonds each made elusive slides on close plays at the plate in the sixth.

The Dodgers cut the gap to 12-10 on Hundley's 10th homer and an RBI double by pinch-hitter Dave Hansen in the seventh off Mike James.

Game notes
McGwire has 63 career multihomer games, tied with Willie Mays for second on the career list. Babe Ruth is the leader with 72. ... Hundley has homered in six of his last seven starts. ... Perez has lost his last four decisions against the Cardinals, allowing 14 earned runs in 14 innings.