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Bonds hits No. 759, Giants fall to Braves

Aug 16, 2007 - 3:56 AM By Phil Foley PA Sportsticker Contributing Writer

ATLANTA (Ticker) - Barry Bonds did it again, but it wasn't enough.

Bonds blasted his 759th career home run but the San Francisco Giants suffered a 6-3 setback to the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday.

Tim Hudson (14-5) hurled eight sensational frames and Andruw Jones drove in two runs for the Braves, who moved into second place in the National League East and remained 3 1/2 games behind the division-leading New York Mets.

Playing in his second game in Atlanta since unseating Braves legend Hank Aaron as baseball's home run king, Bonds smashed the first pitch of the sixth inning 403 feet over the right-center field fence - just to the left of Hammering Hank's image - to tie the game at 2-2.

"I swung the bat good," said Bonds, who finished 1-for-4 with three groundouts and the homer. "If they didn't have the shift on, I'm 4-for-4."

It was the fifth time that the controversial slugger has homered against Hudson and the 14th blast for Bonds at Turner Field. It snapped a 66-inning homerless streak for Hudson, who last allowed a homer to Boston slugger David Ortiz on June 19.

"It was a pitch that was out over the plate," Hudson said. "He's going to make you pay for it and he got it."

Hudson didn't let a homer by Bonds stand in the way of winning his eighth consecutive decision.

The 32-year-old Hudson has been nothing but spectacular of late, sporting a 5-0 record with a 1.48 ERA since the All-Star break.

The righthander continued his hot streak in this one, allowing three runs and eight hits, walking one and striking out five in eight solid frames. Hudson threw 62 of his 94 pitches for strikes en route to becoming the National League's second 14-game winner.

"I feel confident right now," Hudson said. "It's been awhile since I felt this good for this long a stretch of time."

"He's a good pitcher," Bonds said. "He's always been a good pitcher. He was a good pitcher in Oakland and he's a good pitcher here."

Hudson even helped his own cause, plating the Braves' second run with an RBI single in the second.

It briefly looked like Bonds may have ruined Hudson's streak, but the Braves fought back in the bottom of the sixth.

Giants starter Russ Ortiz (2-3) led off the frame by issuing a free pass to Mark Teixeira before hitting Brian McCann with a pitch.

Scott Atchison relieved Ortiz, but surrendered a single to Jeff Francoeur to load the bases before uncorking a wild pitch, plating Teixeira to break the tie.

Two pitches later, Andruw Jones laced a double down the left field line, plating McCann and Francoeur to give Atlanta a 5-2 edge. Willie Harris capped the frame by plating Jones on a sacrifice fly.

Bob Wickman, who blew his first save this season at Turner Field on Tuesday, pitched around a walk and a hit in the ninth to record his 20th save.

The 33-year-old Ortiz, who was an All-Star with Atlanta in 2003, yielded four runs on three hits and five walks with four strikeouts over five innings.

After posting a 36-16 record in two seasons with the Braves, Ortiz has just seven wins since leaving the club after the 2004 campaign.

Bonds was not the only one to extend his own record. Braves manager Bobby Cox, who set the major league mark for ejections in Tuesday's contest, added to his record in the third when he was ejected by first base umpire Angel Hernandez for arguing a balk call.

It was the 133rd ejection of the Atlanta skipper's tenure - fifth by Hernandez - and the 11th time that the cantankerous Cox has been ejected in consecutive nights.

"Hudson's got a fast move (to first)," Cox said. "I think it fooled him. Sometimes umpires see it a different way than you do."

But unlike Tuesday, when Cox was ejected in low-key fashion by plate umpire Ted Barrett, this one had all of the typical Cox theatrics.

After the disputed call, the 66-year-old manager walked toward Hernandez and stated his case to the longtime umpire to chants of "Bobby, Bobby, Bobby" from the Turner Field crowd. It wasn't until after Cox returned to the dugout, still muttering at Hernandez, that he was finally tossed.

"Once he got the record, it was a foregone conclusion," Chipper Jones said. "I don't think either team is seeing everything the way they're officiating. Hudson has got like one balk his whole career and he got two tonight. It doesn't add up."

One frame later, former Brave Ryan Klesko was ejected by plate umpire Mark Carlson for tossing his equipment after a disputed strike three call. The imposing 220-pound Klesko charged toward Carlson, but was restrained by two coaches and Bonds, who eventually dragged the lefthanded slugger off the field.

"He's not as strong as I am, not close," Bonds said. "You don't want nobody to get hurt and (Klesko) was upset pretty bad."

Giants manager Bruce Bochy completed the ejection trifecta on a 96-degree night when he was tossed for arguing Carlson's strike zone in the fifth.

Rookie Rajai Davis drove in a run with a single in the fifth for San Francisco, which has lost eight of its last 10 games.