Posted at 7:33 p.m., Monday, June 11, 2007
Bonds ends home-run drought, hits No. 747
By Janie McCauley
Associated Press
Bonds hit his 747th homer and moved within eight of Hank Aaron's career record with a two-run shot during the Giants' 4-3 win over Toronto on last night, just the second home run since May 8 for the slugger and his first this month.
San Francisco's Matt Morris (7-3) recovered from a shaky start and pitched a seven-hitter for his 23rd career complete game and third this season.
The 42-year-old Bonds sent an 0-1 pitch an estimated 438 feet into the seats in right-center for his 13th homer of the year and first against Blue Jays right-hander Josh Towers (2-4), who became the 440th pitcher to allow a homer to Bonds.
The Giants unveiled a new countdown on the main center-field scoreboard featuring a road sign with "Bonds 747" in the middle and "Road to History" on either side.
Bonds hugged and kissed his bat-boy son, Nikolai, when he crossed the plate. Fans jumped to their feet, chanting "Barry, Barry!" as he walked to left field and tipped his cap before the top of the fifth. "Bye, Bye, Baby" the Giants' theme song back when Bonds' godfather, Willie Mays, was on his way to 660 homers blared from the sound system.
After popping up foul to end the first, Bonds got around on a fastball that Towers left up, tying the score at 3 in the fourth inning. Omar Vizquel drove in the go-ahead run four batters later.
Bonds had not homered in 33 at-bats since connecting for No. 746 on May 27 against Colorado's Taylor Buchholz. Bonds missed two games at Arizona last week with shin splints.
He had hit only one home run in 77 at-bats and 108 plate appearances since a shot off the Mets' Tom Glavine on May 8.
In Bonds' previous 36 games from April 29 to June 10, he had only four homers after hitting 10 by May 5. It was just his sixth RBI since May 9.
"Barry's getting pitched very carefully, and that's always going to be the case," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said before the game. "That's never going to change. He's not 100 percent. I had to sit him down a couple days. This game is difficult. When you're not 100 percent, it makes it that much tougher."
The Giants ended a 21-inning scoreless stretch on Ryan Klesko's RBI groundout in the first, then Klesko led off the fourth with a single before Bonds homered. Toronto reliever Brian Tallet walked Bonds intentionally to start the sixth, Bonds' 22nd intentional free pass and the second he's drawn this year with nobody on base. Boos rained down from all directions.
Bonds grounded into a double play to end the eighth. His home run provided a much-needed lift for the Giants, who ended a six-game home losing streak.
San Francisco was swept at home in consecutive series for the first time since its waterfront ballpark opened in 2000 and was blanked in back-to-back games for the first time since June 22-23, 1996, against Atlanta.
The Giants lost three in a row last weekend to Oakland and all three games to Colorado from May 25-27.
Morris struck out four and walked one, allowing three runs in the first inning before settling down. He has the fourth-lowest ERA in the NL at 2.56.
Aaron Hill hit a two-run double for Toronto and Adam Lind added an RBI single.
Blue Jays slugger Frank Thomas made his first return to the Bay Area since leaving Oakland after the Big Hurt led the Athletics in home runs last season on their way to the AL championship series. Thomas flied out to Bonds deep in left as a pinch-hitter in the seventh.
The Blue Jays are 1-6 against the Giants, including 0-4 in San Francisco. The clubs hadn't met since 2004, when Toronto got swept in the Bay Area.
Dave Roberts stole two bases, providing the energy at the top of the order the Giants missed when he was sidelined from May 10 to June 9 while recovering from elbow surgery. He also crashed into the wall in left-center to make a terrific catch on Hill's drive in the ninth.
Roberts stayed down for a moment and grimaced in pain before getting up and going back to his position.