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Bonds, early offense propel Giants to victory

Aug 25, 2007 - 7:08 AM By Ryan Leong PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- The Milwaukee Brewers have to play two games without the power-hitting Prince Fielder. Even without his bat, the game was a slugfest highlighted by another home run by Barry Bonds.

Bonds belted his 761st career homer as the San Francisco Giants overcame a three-run, first-inning deficit to post an 11-6 victory over the Brewers on Friday.

Bonds, who last homered on Saturday in Florida, finished 2-for-4 with an RBI single and the solo blast in the fourth off Brewers reliever Chris Capuano (5-11).

"There's not enough I can say about the offense tonight and what our guys did and the at-bats they put together," Giants starting pitcher Noah Lowry said. "Barry swung the bat well, and Barry usually swings the bat well. Everybody had good at-bats."

"I imagine I'm going to get the next day or two off, but I felt good and I expect to bounce back," said Capuano, who lost his 11th consecutive decision.

Fielder was fined an undisclosed amount by the league and had his suspension reduced from three games to two for "inappropriate and aggressive conduct" during a confrontation with plate umpire Wally Bell on August 12, when the Brewers lost 6-4 at Houston. The All-Star first baseman was ejected after arguing a called third strike and had to be restrained by bench coach Dale Sveum.

"Our plan was, we weren't going to have him miss the Chicago series, we were going to take the suspension here," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "But to have one game knocked off is a good thing for us."

The Brewers scored three times off Lowry (14-7) in the first, but the Giants responded in a huge way, sending 11 men to the plate and scoring six times in the bottom half of the inning against righthander Claudio Vargas.

"The way we came back was big. That's a tough inning when you give up three (runs) there, but we had some great at-bats, too," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "We put the ball in play and good things happened there. We swung it well tonight, but we had to because they swung it well."

Vargas, however, was unable to make the lead stand up and had his worst outing of the season, allowing six runs and five hits while recording just two outs.

"I don't feel any pressure," Vargas said. "I try to pitch my game every five games when I get a chance to do the best I can for the team and for me. Especially now, we're fighting for first place, but you've got to throw this one away and come tomorrow with a new attitude to be ready for the next one. There's nothing more we can do."

Milwaukee saved Vargas from being saddled with the loss and clawed their way back into tie it at 6-6 in the third. But San Francisco moved ahead in the bottom of the frame on Lowry's second career home run, a two-run shot off Capuano.

"We'll keep him in the long role," Yost said. "I was hoping he would take this opportunity and run with it a little bit. I wanted to roll with him for a while, but he hung a changeup to the pitcher for a two-run homer. I don't know what that pitch was to Bonds and we just didn't get a ball in on (Kevin) Frandsen. (He's) just not making pitches when you need to."

"I was just happy to make contact there, and it just happened to come back over the plate and I ran into it," Lowry said. "At that time, it was kind of nice. At the time, the game was tied and they were hitting me pretty well, so it was good to put us back on top."

Lowry struggled mightily, permitting six runs and a career-high 12 hits, but he managed to last long enough to notch the victory despite throwing 94 pitches through five innings.

"Every win is special to start with, and obviously there's some (like) tonight you have to fight tooth and nail for every single pitch of the game," Lowry said. "And you have to still have offense and guys behind you to pick you up, and that's what they did tonight."

Corey Hart and Johnny Estrada each had three hits for the Brewers, who fell 1 1/2 games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs (66-61) in the National League Central Division. The Cubs defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks (72-57) earlier in the evening, 6-2.

Earlier Friday, the city of San Francisco honored Bonds for becoming the all-time home run king with a public celebration in his honor attended by thousands, including his family, current teammates, mayor Gavin Newsom and Hall of Famers Willie McCovey and Willie Mays.

"I want to thank my teammates very, very much for being here and supporting me," Bonds said at the event. "That means a lot for a player to have his teammates behind him. (Your) support through this record was unbelievable."