CHICAGO (AP) - Cubs slugger Alfonso Soriano hit his 53rd leadoff homer Wednesday night, tying Craig Biggio for second on baseball's career list and setting a club record.
Chicago was trailing 2-0 when Soriano drove an 0-1 pitch from San Diego's Chris Young beyond the left-field bleachers to start a three-run rally. Besides tying Biggio, Soriano moved ahead of Jimmy Ryan with his 21st leadoff homer as a Cub. Rickey Henderson holds the major league record with 81 leadoff homers.Soriano, who began the night batting .278, now has 11 homers on the season.
Ryan Theriot tied it when he went deep on the next pitch, the first time the Cubs led off a game with back-to-back homers since April 27, 2000, at Houston. It also was the first time the Padres had allowed consecutive homers to the first two batters, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
