Bonds homers as Giants smack Pirates
PITTSBURGH – Barry Bonds is two away from historic homer No. 600. He might have passed that number a long time ago if he had played his Pittsburgh years in PNC Park. Bonds took advantage of the short right-field porch there to hit his 598th career homer, one of six San Francisco home runs, and J.T. Snow had a three-run shot and five RBIs as the Giants roughed up the Pirates 10-5 Sunday.
Bonds went 3-for-4 and scored three times while homering for the second game in a row. His 31st home run of the season led off the ninth inning and left him two away from joining Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth and Willie Mays as the only players with 600 homers.
“Things happen so fast in my career,” Bonds said. “I remember hitting No. 400 when (Jim) Leyland was managing the Marlins, and now I’m two away from 600, and that (No. 400) doesn’t seem that long ago. Time has gone by so fast.”
Bonds has four homers in six games at PNC Park, which opened last year – nine years after he left the Leyland-managed Pirates to play in San Francisco. He hit No. 597 on Saturday night, and just missed another homer later in the game when a long drive fell at the base of the wall.
Asked if he would have liked playing his seven Pirates seasons in PNC, he said, “Oh, yeah. … This is a small ballpark.”
Snow, productive in the second half since getting over some nagging injuries, hit a two-run double in the second against Kris Benson (4-6), then followed with a three-run homer during a five-run sixth.
After going all season without hitting consecutive homers until Saturday night, when Kent and Snow did it in an 11-6 victory, the Giants hit three in a row in the sixth.
Reggie Sanders followed Snow’s drive with his 16th, and David Bell greeted reliever Josias Manzanillo with his second of the game. Bell also hit a solo shot the inning before and now has 17 this season.
The Giants last hit three in a row when Kent, Eric Davis and Benito Santiago did it on July 22, 2001, against Arizona.
The Giants had eight hits in the sixth when they opened an 8-2 lead. The Pirates came back in their half of the inning with Craig Wilson’s second homer of the game, a three-run drive to center off Kirk Rueter (10-6).
Wilson, who had gone all season without homering at PNC Park, also hit a solo homer off Rueter in the fourth as the teams combined for eight homers on a steamy 94-degree day at PNC Park.
“It’s nice to play in warm weather and this is a good park to hit in,” Snow said.
Rich Aurilia hit the other Giants homer, a solo drive in the eighth off Brian Boehringer that was his 10th.
Snow got the Giants started with a two-run double in the second, after Bonds walked and Santiago singled. Snow’s average was the in the low .200s early in the season, but he is 16-for-36 (.444) with three homers during the second half of the season. He also homered Saturday night.
“I’m getting a chance to play,” Snow said. “Hitting is timing, and you can’t have timing if you don’t play.”
Rueter allowed five runs, four earned, and five hits in 5 1-3 innings but still got the victory. He is the first Giants left-hander to win at least 10 games in six consecutive seasons since Johnny Antonelli from 1954-59.
“If it wasn’t for Craig Wilson, he would have had an outstanding day,” manager Dusty Baker said.
Felix Rodriguez followed Rueter by retiring all five batters he faced. The Giants bullpen pitched 3 2-3 scoreless innings, with Tim Worrell finishing up over the final two innings.
Benson (4-6) couldn’t follow up his best start of the season, a 4-1 victory Tuesday over Colorado in which he allowed three hits in eighth innings. He lasted 5 1-3 innings, yielding seven runs and eight hits to raise his ERA from 5.59 to 6.01.
“I hit a brick wall there in the sixth inning,” Benson said. “I still had good velocity, but I didn’t make my pitches. I don’t know what it is. I just started leaving the ball up.”
NOTES: The Giants’ season high is seven homers, against the Rockies on July 2. They lead the NL with 143 home runs. … Wilson has eight homers, six on the road. He has yet to hit a pinch-hit homer after tying the NL record with seven last season. … The Giants won their second in a row after dropping eight of 11. They went 3-3 on a road trip to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. They would have swept in Pittsburgh if closer Robb Nen hadn’t blown a ninth-inning lead Friday. … The Pirates lost their ninth in 12 games. … The Giants remained a game back of Los Angeles in the NL wild card race and seven behind Arizona in the NL West.