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Bonds hits No. 744 in Giants' romp

May 6, 2007 - 1:05 AM SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- Opponents are paying whether they pitch to Barry Bonds or not.

Bonds belted his 744th career home run as the Giants held off the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-4, in the third of a four-game series.

With his 10th home run of the season, Bonds moved within 11 of tying Hank Aaron's all-time record of 755.

Pedro Feliz added a three-run blast in a four-run eighth inning after the Phillies opted to walk Bonds for the third time for a 9-4 lead.

"I know there's still a lot of times they're going to pitch around him and if we can continue to get big hits and put runners in scoring position, it'll put us in that much better position to win and Barry's swinging a hot bat," Giants first baseman Ryan Klesko said. "I don't blame the pitchers or the managers not to pitch to him but if we've got guys swinging the bat good behind him, that's going to rack up that many more runs we can score."

On Friday, Philadelphia elected to walk Bonds in both the seventh and eighth innings and it led to a pair of three-run frames in a 6-2 win by San Francisco.

Bonds, who normally does not play in a day game following a night contest, ripped a shot off Phillies starter Jon Lieber (1-1) to lead off the second inning to tie the score at 1-1.

"He touched that ball pretty good," Giants starter Noah Lowry said. "He's always a threat. If we get him into a situation and even if you don't pitch to him and he's the leadoff batter, you've got your leadoff batter on first. I know as a pitcher, it's tough to deal with when you allow the leadoff batter to get on base. Whether he's hitting or walking he still changes the game."

The seven-time MVP, who has 28 walks on the season, moved into sole possession of fourth place all-time - past Stan Musial - with his 1,952th RBI, and tied Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron for third place all-time in runs scored with 2,174.

Eliezer Alfonzo also slugged a solo home run in the seventh for San Francisco.

Lowry (4-2) allowed three runs - one earned - and five hits in 6 2/3 innings, striking out eight and walking one. He won his fourth consecutive start.

"All his pitches (were working)," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "The fastball, he was locating it. His curveball, he threw some really good ones, had his changeup going. He used his fastball both sides of the plate well today. I thought he showed great composure too because we did (make) a few mistakes there, but what's most important is that he kept going."

Four relievers finished up for San Francisco, with Scott Munter working around a walk and single in the ninth.

The Phillies went ahead in the first, 1-0, when Jimmy Rollins singled home Shane Victorino, who led off the game with a single, stole second and moved to third on an error. Rollins extended his hitting streak to nine consecutive games.

The Giants took the lead for good with a three-run third inning for a 4-1 advantage. After Dave Roberts stroked a leadoff double and Randy Winn reached on a bunt single, Ryan Klesko tripled home both runners for a 3-1 lead.

Lowry intentionally walked Bonds and that paid off as Ray Durham bounced into a double play, with Klesko scoring the fourth run.

"I thought Lieber gave up some runs early but he settled in OK," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "He had that one inning where they jumped on him and started hitting the ball pretty good on him but outside of that, he ended up working through it and doing OK."

Philadelphia added single runs in the sixth and seventh. Victorino singled, stole second and moved to third on an error before scoring on Aaron Rowand's groundout in the sixth.

More Giants' miscues helped the Phillies get within 4-3 in the seventh. Pat Burrell reached on second baseman Durham's throwing error, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Abraham Nunez's single to center.

After Alfonzo's blast restored the lead to two runs, the Phillies battled back as Rowand had a one-out double in the eighth off Brad Hennessey and scored Chase Utley's two-out single to run to make it 5-4.

Steve Kline relieved Hennessey and retired pinch hitter Ryan Howard on a flyout to left-center to end the threat.

The Giants broke it open in the eighth against relievers Fabio Castro and Yoel Hernandez.

After Klesko and Bonds drew one-out walks, Durham singled home a run for a 6-4 lead. That brought on Hernandez, who had a forgettable major league debut by serving up a three-run homer to Feliz - the first batter he faced.

"He was 2-0 and he had to throw a good pitch with (runners) at first and second he didn't want to walk a guy to get the bases loaded," Feliz said. "He had to throw a strike and I've been working and that's the result."