• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Bonds, Giants hope for better results at home

May 21, 2007 - 2:58 PM Houston (21-22) at San Francisco (21-22) 10:15 pm EDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- Barry Bonds should be glad to be back in San Francisco following a terrible road trip.

Bonds and the Giants, who are coming off a 3-7 road trip, hope to change their luck when they host the Houston Astros on Monday.

On the Giants' 10-game road trip, Bonds batted .186 (5-for-27) and did not homer or drive in a run. He actually had more strikeouts - six - than hits during the stretch.

The 42-year-old has 745 home runs and is 10 away of tying Hank Aaron as the all-time leader, however, he has not homered in 10 games. The last time he went 11 games without a home run was at the start of the 2006 season, when he failed to homer in the Giants' first 13 games.

Houston starter Chris Sampson (4-3, 3.56 ERA) will be trying to earn a win against the Giants for the second time in as many starts. The righthander allowed one run on seven hits in six innings during the Astros' 2-1 win on Wednesday.

Houston's Hunter Pence went 4-for-4 in that game and his tie-breaking home run off starter Noah Lowry was the difference.

Coincidentally, Lowry (4-4, 3.04) gets the start for Giants in this one. The lefthander pitched eight innings in Wednesday's loss, but long outings with minimal runs allowed have been common for him. Lowry has pitched six or more innings in seven of his eight starts this season and has allowed two runs or less in five starts.

In four career starts against the Astros, Lowry is 3-1 and has allowed just five runs in 31 innings for a 1.45 ERA.

Randy Winn had three hits including a home run on Sunday to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 18 games. It is the longest hitting streak for the Giants since Robby Thompson hit safely in 21 consecutive contests in 1993.

Since May 2, Houston's Carlos Lee is batting .412 (28-for-68) with four homers and 18 RBI. During that span he has raised his batting average from .242 to .311.