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Bonds hits No. 758, but Giants fall to Pirates

Aug 11, 2007 - 6:53 AM By Ryan Leong PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

San Francisco (Ticker) -- Barry Bonds continued to provide a festive atmosphere, but the Pittsburgh Pirates ended up spoiling the party.

Bonds hit home run No. 758 against former teammate Matt Morris, but the Pirates scored six times in the eighth inning off four San Francisco Giants relievers en route to an 8-7 victory Friday night.

The Giants slugger has homered three times this week, including milestone No. 756 on Tuesday to pass Hall of Famer Hank Aaron for the all-time record.

"He's swinging well but overall we swung it well tonight, hit some balls hard and did some good things there," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "But we need to shut them down there and we didn't do it."

Bonds, who made Morris his 448th different victim, homered, walked, scored twice and knocked in three runs.

"I got caught up in the moment to challenge him and it didn't pay off," Morris said. "I've seen it a ton of times being on his team. I threw him a curveball in the zone at that point and he took me deep. I tip my hat to him. He's an unbelievable hitter, very intelligent and he probably knew it was coming."

But Pittsburgh weathered Bonds' blast and started its comeback from a 6-2 deficit in the eighth with four consecutive singles off reliever Jonathan Sanchez, including RBI base hits by Ryan Doumit and Ronny Paulino.

"I don't know if that's related or not but at the same time we're not worried about what (Bonds) does individually," Pirates left fielder Jason Bay said. "If its a situation where he's going to beat us then yeah it hurts but as long as you try to keep him at bay and it wasn't the most ideal path but yeah it worked."

Vinnie Chulk (4-4) then yielded a sacrifice fly to Jack Wilson before Xavier Nady reached on an error by second baseman Ray Durham, putting runners on the corners with one out.

Steve Kline entered for the Giants and fellow lefthander Nate McLouth doubled over right fielder Dan Ortmeier's head, tying the game at 6-6 and putting runners on second and third. After Brad Hennessey got Jose Bautista to ground out, Freddy Sanchez lined a two-run single up the middle to cap the frame and provide an 8-6 edge.

"We have done it too many times, that's why we are where we're at, not closing these games out when we have the lead and tonight was one we let get away," Bochy said. "We had some bad luck with some bleeders but we also made some bad pitches at the wrong time. You've got to finish the game. It's nine innings and we played well there until the eighth and we let it get away."

"With (Bonds) doing what he's done, there's a ton of electricity in the stadium and to deflate that with all those runs in the eighth inning was nice," McLouth said.

John Grabow (2-1), who pitched a scoreless seventh, picked up the win. Former Giant Salomon Torres allowed a run in the eighth before escaping a second and third, one-out jam and Matt Capps logged the ninth for his 10th save.

"Our bullpen's been pretty solid all year and like anything we've had our ups and downs but we're able to come together," Capps said. "The guys put up the six runs in the eighth inning. That was huge and we fed off their energy and went out there and finished it up."

The loss spoiled another potential storyline, as the Giants got the better of the trade-deadline deal between the clubs in which Morris went to the Pirates for speedy outfielder Rajai Davis.

"Oh geez, he was unbelievable," Morris said. "Every ball I threw he was taking a good whack at. He singled, doubled, tripled and scored four runs today and was really impressive. I'm trying to get these guys back on my side in this clubhouse for giving him up - but he was good tonight."

Morris, who has lost his last five decisions and has not posted a victory since June 11 when he was pitching for San Francisco, allowed five runs on seven hits in six innings.

Davis admitted he was thinking about the cycle.

"I did realize it after my third at-bat," Davis said of his opportunity for the cycle. "My fourth at-bat I was thinking about it."

"He played well, the kid had a great game," Bochy said.

Adam LaRoche homered for the Pirates, who had lost four of five and are 6-18 since the All-Star break.

"I have to give our guys an awful lot of credit to come back in the manner they did," Pirates manager Jim Tracy said. "That's been an Achilles' heel for us. We turned it around with a huge inning."