SAN DIEGO — Barry Bonds hit his 65th and 66th home runs Sunday, leaving him four shy of Mark McGwire's major-league record of 70, set in 1998.

Barry Bonds during Sunday's game.

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        The San Francisco slugger hit both homers off rookie Jason Middlebrook in the Giants' 11-2 victory over the San Diego Padres, tying him with the Chicago Cubs' Sammy Sosa, who hit 66 homers in '98, for the second-most in a season. But he downplayed the achievement.

        “I'm not in this game to set records,” he said. “Records are meant to be broken. I'm trying to win for my club.”

        Sosa raised his home-run total for this season to 58 after hitting three in the Cubs' 7-6 loss to the Houston Astros Sunday. It's the third time this season and fourth time in his career he has hit three homers in one game.

        With a chance to tie the major-league record for homers in a game, Sosa hit a routine fly ball off Mike Jackson in his fourth at-bat Sunday.

        “He made a good pitch right there at 3-0 (count) and I just missed it,” he said.

        Bonds' homers came in San Francisco's 150th game. McGwire hit his 65th in the Cardinals' 157th game in 1998, and his 66th in St. Louis' 161st. San Francisco has 12 games left this season.

        Bonds has 34 homers on the road, giving him sole possession of the major-league record.

        Bonds also broke Ruth's major-league record for most homers over two seasons by a left-handed batter — Bonds hit 49 in 2000 to give him 115 in the past two seasons — one more than Ruth had in 1927-28.

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