NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Bonds and Williams Give Giants Power Surge

Barry Bonds and Matt Williams hit consecutive home runs in both the third and 11th innings Sunday at Chicago, leading the San Francisco Giants to a 9-7 victory over the Cubs.

“It was a good game, exciting,� said Bonds, who leads the National League with 36 home runs. “Too bad there weren’t a lot of people around to see it.�

Rain delayed the start of the game for 44 minutes and for 1 hour 27 minutes during the eighth inning.

With one out in the 11th, Bonds homered against Randy Myers (2-4). Williams followed with his 27th homer, a drive that landed on Waveland Avenue beyond the left-field bleachers.

The last time players hit consecutive homers twice in a game was on Aug. 6, 1992, when Gary Sheffield and Fred McGriff did it for San Diego against Houston in the first and second innings.

“I hope Barry hits 60,� Williams said. “If he does, then we have a pretty good chance of winning this thing.�

Kevin Rogers (1-2) pitched two innings for his first major league victory.

Atlanta 1, Cincinnati 0--Greg Maddux pitched a four-hitter and Jeff Blauser singled in the only run at Cincinnati as the Braves extended their win streak to seven games.

Maddux (14-9) outpitched Jose Rijo (10-7) as the second-place Braves stayed within 7 1/2 games of first-place San Francisco in the NL West.

Deion Sanders tripled with two out in the third and Blauser singled to send the Reds to their sixth consecutive defeat.

Maddux pitched his first shutout since last Sept. 20. He struck out six and walked two.

Rijo struck out a season-high 11 in seven innings and gave up four hits. The Reds have scored only six runs in his seven losses.

Montreal 7, St. Louis 1--John Vander Wal and Larry Walker each drove in two runs during a five-run fifth at Montreal.

Gil Heredia (2-2) gave up one run and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings in his first start since June 7.

Rene Arocha (10-4), who won his three previous starts, gave up five runs and seven hits in seven innings.

Pittsburgh 4, Florida 3--Don Slaught doubled home the winning run in the 11th inning at Pittsburgh.

Luis Aquino (6-7), the Marlins’ third pitcher, walked Dave Clark on a 3-2 pitch before Slaught doubled into the left-center gap.

Mark Dewey pitched three innings of one-hit relief before Blas Minor (7-5) worked the 11th inning for the victory.

Orestes Destrade hit his 14th homer for the Marlins.

Colorado 4, Houston 3--The Rockies won for the eighth time in nine games when Astro shortstop Andujar Cedeno misplayed Vinny Castilla’s grounder in the ninth and allowed the go-ahead run to score.

Doug Drabek, 0-6 in eight starts since July 4, took a 3-1 lead into the eighth, but Eric Young walked and Colorado tied the game on doubles by Chris Jones and Dante Bichette.

Clark singled against Xavier Hernandez (3-3) with one out in the ninth, Danny Sheaffer walked and Castilla’s hard grounder went by Cedeno for an error.

Philadelphia 5, New York 4--Kim Batiste singled home Wes Chamberlain with two outs in the eighth as the Phillies rallied from a four-run deficit at Philadelphia.

With the Phillies trailing, 4-1, Lenny Dykstra walked to open the eighth. One out later, John Kruk hit his 10th homer against Eric Hillman.

Anthony Young (1-15) retired Pete Incaviglia, but Darren Daulton doubled and scored the tying run on Chamberlain’s single. Batiste then singled for the go-ahead run.