Posted on: Wednesday, October 3, 2001

Bonds homerless in Giants' 4-1 win

Associated Press

HOUSTON — At this rate, Barry Bonds will walk his way into history before he ever trots there.

Bonds once again got little to swing at, remaining one short of Mark McGwire's home run record as his San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros, 4-1, last night.

Bonds went 1-for-2 with two walks, and was hit by a pitch. He stayed at 69 home runs, with five games left to break Big Mac's mark.

"You can't do anything if you're not pitched to," Bonds said. "You take what they give you. We won, that's all that matters."

If Bonds does go deep tonight, the scoreboard operators at Enron Field will be ready. Shortly after fans left the park, they began trying out their displays for No. 70 and No. 71, if necessary.

Facing Shane Reynolds, among the majors' best control pitchers, Bonds swung only once in four trips. Against Billy Wagner's 98-mph fastballs, he grounded out.

"Billy pitched to me," Bonds said.

Bonds has walked 169 times this year, one short of Babe Ruth's record set in 1923.

"When he came up, there were guys on base, so we are not going to give him a pitch to hit," Reynolds said.