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Bonds, Giants try to avoid sweep by Athletics

May 20, 2007 - 1:43 PM San Francisco (20-22) at Oakland (22-20) 4:05 pm EDT

OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- Barry Bonds' pursuit of all-time home run leader Hank Aaron has slowed down.

The San Francisco Giants slugger looks to change that and help the Giants avoid a three-game series sweep at the hands of the Oakland Athletics on Sunday.

Bonds has 745 homers but has not gone deep in nine games - his longest drought since going 10 games without a home run from last August 5-15.

Oakland starter Joe Kennedy (1-2, 2.53 ERA) has allowed only a double to Bonds in nine career at-bats. The lefthander has pitched well this season despite having only a single victory in seven starts. Kennedy has allowed one run in six of his starts and in the start in which he allowed three runs, a 17-3 win against the Kansas City Royals, he earned his only win of the season.

The Giants counter with Matt Morris (4-1, 3.27), who has pitched seven or more innings in four of his last five starts. After allowing one home run in his first six starts, Morris has given up two longballs in each of his last two outings.

Jack Cust continues to spark the Athletics lineup and provided the decisive blow in Saturday's 4-2 win with a three-run homer in the first inning.

Since being acquired from the Padres on May 3, Cust is batting .310 (13-for-42) with eight homers and 20 RBI in 13 games. In this current homestand, Cust has four home runs in nine games, including his first walk-off homer which gave the Athletics a 10-7 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Sunday.

The Giants' Randy Winn has a career-high 17-game hitting streak. It is the longest hitting streak for the Giants since Robby Thompson hit safely in 21 consecutive contests in 1993.