Bonds Hits 57th, but Giants Lose

Barry Bonds hit his 57th home run, a towering two-run drive that landed in the San Francisco Bay beyond right field, but the slumping Giants lost to the Colorado Rockies, 5-2, Friday.

Bonds’ homer in the eighth inning came in the Giants’ 135th game as he aims at Mark McGwire’s 1998 record of 70 homers in a season. Sammy Sosa is the quickest to 57 homers, doing it in 133 games in 1999.

Until Bonds’ homer, John Thomson (2-5) was in command. He allowed two runs on seven hits in 71/3 innings.

Thomson has bounced between the Rockies and the minors this season while continuing to recover from the 1999 postseason shoulder surgery that kept him out of the majors all last season. His first victory in more than two years came two weeks ago against Florida.

Until the Bonds homer, Thomson had not allowed a runner past second base. He also made two excellent fielding plays, including a diving catch of a bunt by Calvin Murray in the third that he turned into a double play.

Jay Powell pitched the ninth for his fifth save in as many chances.

The Rockies scored five runs on two hits and three walks in the first against Russ Ortiz (14-8).

Arizona 4-5, San Diego 1-6--Curt Schilling earned his major league-leading 19th victory and Luis Gonzalez hit his 51st homer for the Diamondbacks in the first game of a doubleheader at San Diego.

Danny Bautista hit two homers for the NL West-leading Diamondbacks, who won for the fifth time in seven games.

Schilling (19-6) beat the Padres for the third time in four starts this year. He took a four-hit shutout into the ninth before Ryan Klesko connected on the first pitch for his 27th home run.

Ray Lankford’s one-out double chased Schilling, who struck out 11 and walked one.

Bret Prinz got the final two outs for his ninth save in 11 chances.

In the second game, the Padres rallied from a 5-3 seventh-inning deficit to win, 6-5. D’Angelo Jimenez singled in Mike Darr to break a 5-5 tie in the eighth.

Chicago 8, Atlanta 2--Matt Stairs hit a two-run homer and rookie Juan Cruz gave up four hits in six innings for the wild card-leading Cubs at Atlanta.

Cruz (2-1), making his third major league start, gave up two runs, walked three and struck out one as the Cubs won their third straight for the first time since July 23-25.

Javy Lopez drove in both Atlanta runs with an RBI single in the fourth and a bases-empty homer in the sixth as the Braves lost for the sixth time in eight games.

Atlanta, which has lost 12 of 16 at Turner Field, maintained its one-game lead in the NL East over Philadelphia.

Stairs hit his 13th homer following a single by Ricky Gutierrez in the sixth off John Burkett (11-8) to make it 5-1.

The game was delayed 1 hour 37 minutes by rain before Chicago batted in the eighth. Following the delay, the Cubs batted around against Steve Reed, scoring three runs on RBI hits by pinch-hitter Delino DeShields, Eric Young and Bill Mueller.

*

Montreal 5, Philadelphia 1--Vladimir Guerrero used his bat instead of his fists to defeat the Phillies, driving in two runs and scoring another to lead the Expos at Philadelphia.

With a runner on first base and one out in the first inning, Nelson Figueroa hit Guerrero in the left shoulder with a fastball.

Guerrero, who had been three for six lifetime against Figueroa, shouted at the pitcher. Figueroa appeared to motion for Guerrero to take first base, but the Expos’ star took a few steps toward the mound.

Guerrero was stopped by home plate umpire Chris Guccione and Phillie catcher Todd Pratt. Both benches and bullpens emptied, but there was no fight and Guerrero was not ejected.

*

New York 6, Florida 1--Starter Al Leiter hit his first career triple to highlight a four-run seventh inning for the Mets at New York.

Leiter (10-10) allowed one run and five hits in eight innings to win his third consecutive decision.

*

Houston 3, Milwaukee 2--Vinny Castilla’s two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning rallied the Astros past the Brewers at Milwaukee. Jamey Wright (9-9), who struck out a career-high 12, took a five-hitter and a 2-1 lead into the ninth for the Brewers.

*

Cincinnati 11, Pittsburgh 3--Robin Jennings hit a grand slam for his first major league homer and also tripled with the bases loaded to lead the host Reds.