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Bonds, Morris help Giants avoid sweep by Padres

Apr 6, 2007 - 8:58 AM SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- Barry Bonds made sure Bruce Bochy was not embarrassed by his former club.

Bonds ripped an RBI double and Matt Morris pitched six strong innings as the San Francisco Giants avoided a three-game sweep by the San Diego Padres with a 5-3 victory.

Ray Durham also drove in two runs in a four-run fifth inning for the Giants, who were outscored, 12-3, in the first two games of the series before righting the ship on Thursday.

"I was just looking for something up in the zone," Durham said. "He had been down all night. Once it was 3-2, I figured he didn't want to walk me and he's going to get something up. I put a pretty good swing on it."

Bochy left the Padres to manage the Giants after last season. But his first series as San Francisco's manager had been a disappointment after his club looked flat in two losses to his former team to open the season.

"Well, I'll be honest," Bochy said. "Last thing we wanted to do was open up this thing getting swept. Get this win. It's a big win. Kids did a good job in the pen. It's good to get on the board, believe me."

Bonds, however, has looked rejuvenated, hitting his 735th career homer on Wednesday. One night later, he belted an RBI double to plate Dave Roberts to open the scoring in the first.

The legendary left fielder also was in the middle of the decisive fifth-inning rally. The Giants opened a lead thanks to the wildness of San Diego starter Clay Hensley (0-1), who walked three straight batters with two outs - including Bonds - to spark the outburst.

Padres manager Bud Black did not think it was wildness from Hensley, who was seen jawing with home plate umpire Dan Iassongna.

"His stuff was good," Black said. "In the fifth, the two quick outs. It looked like from the dugout he was maintaining his pitches, but apparently they were off the plate. It looked like those were awful good pitches. He was around the zone. He just didn't get the calls."

With the bases loaded, Durham stroked a two-run single to score Omar Vizquel and Roberts to make it 3-1. Rich Aurilia's single then plated Bonds, and Klesko followed with a base hit to knock in Durham to cap the scoring for the Giants.

"Durham is the star of the game," Morris said. "On a 3-2 count, (he) comes up with a huge base hit for us. He came up with plays that the ball comes off the bat you think it's a base hit. He comes up big and lifts everybody up. It was just awesome to see."

Morris (1-0) allowed one run and five hits in six frames, while walking two and striking out two. Steve Kline started the ninth but allowed two runs and two hits in two-thirds of an inning before Armando Benitez recorded the final out for his first save.

Benitez walked the first batter he faced on four pitches, drawing boos from the crowd and surrendered a two-run single to Josh Bard.

"It was bad luck," Benitez said. "Everybody got nervous. Mo (Morris) got nervous."

Hensley yielded five runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. He walked three and struck out two.

"I felt like I made good pitches tonight," Hensley said. "It just didn't go my way. I didn't feel like I was all over the place with my fastball. I felt like I was throwing strikes, I didn't get some pitches that I thought should have been strikes but that's just the nature of the beast I guess."

Padres reliever Kevin Cameron made his debut and retired his first hitter, Bonds, with two pitches. Cameron retired the side in order in the seventh capped by his first career strikeout against Aurilia.