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Bonds gets another shot at VandenHurk, Marlins

Aug 18, 2007 - 1:34 PM San Francisco (52-70) at Florida (56-66) 7:05 pm EDT

MIAMI (Ticker) -- Rick VandenHurk gave up career home run No. 754 to Barry Bonds on July 27. He will try to keep Bonds from getting to 760 when the Florida Marlins host the San Francisco Giants on Saturday.

The Giants took the series opener on Friday behind a rare strong outing from lefthander Barry Zito, who allowed just one hit in seven scoreless innings in a 3-0 victory.

Since Bonds homered off the young Dutchman in the first inning on July 28, VandenHurk (3-3, 7.46 ERA) is 0-1 with a 9.72 ERA in four starts. The 22-year-old righthander walked Bonds in his two subsequent at-bats, leaving after allowing six runs and eight hits in five innings. However, he did not factor in the decision of a 12-10 loss.

Starting for San Francisco will be the 22-year-old Matt Cain (4-13, 3.77). The hard-throwing righthander has been a hard-luck pitcher all season, as the Giants are averaging just 1.69 runs per game during his losses.

Cain allowed three runs and six hits in seven innings during his lone career start against the Marlins on July 28, but did not factor in the decision of a 4-3 win.

Florida has lost three in a row and four of its last five games. San Francisco has won two in a row after dropping seven of its previous eight.