By Ken Peters
Associated Press
Saturday, April 24, 1999; 12:38 a.m. EDT

LOS ANGELES – St. Louis' Fernando Tatis, who had not hit a grand slam in his career, became the only player in major league history to hit two in one inning Friday night.

Tatis also set a big league record with his eight RBIs in one inning. The previous record was six, shared by several players.

Tatis, playing in his 226th big league game, hit both grand slams in the third inning against the Dodgers' Chan Ho Park as the Cardinals scored 11 times to take an 11-2 lead.

It was only the 10th time in major league history that a player had two grand slams in a game, and just the second time in National League history.

Tony Cloninger, a former Braves pitcher, had been the only NL player to hit two slams in one game.

Tatis, who had just 24 homers in his career, including four this year, hit a 2-0 fastball from Park deep into the left-field bullpen, with nobody out.

Then, after Mark McGwire had flied out to shallow right field to leave the bases loaded with two out, Tatis lined Park's 3-2 pitch into the left-field pavilion.

Park, who faced 13 batters in the inning, finally was taken out of the game.

The Dodgers' right-hander became the first pitcher in this century -- and only the second ever -- to give up two grand slams in one inning.

The other was Bill Phillips of the Pittsburgh Pirates, against the Chicago Cubs in 1890.

Tatis, a slight 5-foot-10, 170-pounder, is a native of the Dominican Republic who came to the Cardinals in a trade with Texas last July.

He has a .270 career batting average after slightly more than 1 1/2 years of major league service. He hit .287 in 55 games for the Cardinals last year.