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Bonds hits No. 735, but Giants fall

Apr 5, 2007 - 7:31 AM SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- Barry Bonds' heroics were trumped by Adrian Gonzalez.

Gonzalez hit a long two-run homer in the eighth inning as the San Diego Padres took the second of a three-game set, 5-3, over the San Francisco Giants.

Khalil Greene and Marcus Giles also homered for the Padres, who won the season opener, 7-0, on Monday.

Bonds ended the Giants' scoring drought with the 735th home run of his career off San Diego starter Chris Young in the first inning, moving the seven-time MVP within 20 of tying all-time leader Hank Aaron. Two innings later, he appeared to injure his left hamstring two innings later while making a running catch.

"He said it got better, but he was pretty tight there at the end," San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said.

Young became the 435th pitcher to surrender a homer to Bonds, who took over the lead in the franchise's runs list in San Francisco with 1,481, surpassing his godfather, Willie Mays.

Greene drilled his first of the season in the fifth off Giants starter Matt Cain and Giles drilled a two-run blast later in the frame to tie the contest at 2-2.

"I was just upset that I got beat on that pitch," Cain said of Giles' homer. "It was a missed location so bad; that bothered me the most."

However, those blasts were just appetizers to the main course, as Gonzalez drilled an 0-1 fastball by Jake Taschner (0-1) deep over the right-center field fence for a 5-3 lead.

"It was supposed to be a pitch down and away," Taschner said. "If you try and throw down and away and miss in the middle of the plate to a guy like Gonzalez, he can take it out. It's one I'd like back."

"I got a pitch I was looking for," Gonzalez said. "I think he missed a spot and I was able to get to it. We're going to hit, especially on the road. The only problem is we play 81 games at Petco."

Gonzalez and Giles each finished with three hits.

Cla Meredith (1-0) worked 1 1/3 innings for the win, Scott Linebrink tossed a scoreless eighth and all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 483rd save of his career.

Giles and Gonzalez struck their homers with two outs. Twice the Giants had the bases loaded with two outs but did not score.

Bengie Molina flied out in the third and Dave Roberts grounded out in the sixth.

Young yielded three runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings. He walked three and struck four while tying the all-time record by making his 25th consecutive road start without a loss.

"We won the game, that's the most important part," Young said. "That's all I care about. It's luck, I'm telling you guys. I try to think the same way at home as on the road. Game is simple. It comes down to execution."

"I thought that overall, he threw the ball pretty well, San Diego manager Bud Black said. There were a couple ABs that got away from him a little bit. I thought he held his stuff well.

Cain, who was 3-0 with a 1.33 ERA in four starts against San Diego last season, was charged with three runs and five hits in six innings.

"He threw well," Bochy said. "You can look at those two mistakes there, but I thought overall he pitched well tonight. He gave us a chance to win. We created some opportunities. We just couldn't get the big hit there to break it open."

San Diego scored five runs despite not having a runner in scoring position until the ninth inning. The 0-2 start is the first by the Giants since dropping a pair at Atlanta to begin the 1996 campaign.