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Bonds keys late rally as Giants surge past Rockies

Sep 20, 2006 - 3:11 PM DENVER (Ticker) -- With his team's postseason hopes fading fast, Barry Bonds came up big in a pinch for the San Francisco Giants.

Bonds roped a pinch-hit RBI single to highlight a five-run rally in the eighth inning as the Giants overcame an early deficit en route to a 7-4 victory over the Colorado Rockies.

The win snapped a four-game skid for San Francisco (75-76), which entered 4 1/2 games behind rival Los Angeles for (79-72) for first place in the National League wild card race. The Dodgers host the Pittsburgh Pirates Wednesday night.

"We needed that one, no doubt about it," said Bonds, who drove in his 1,923rd career RBI to pass Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx for seventh place on baseball's all-time list.

Given the day off after starting in each of the first two contests of this three-game set, Bonds entered the game as a pinch hitter with the bases loaded and the score tied, 3-3, in the eighth inning.

Rockies manager Clint Hurdle brought in lefthander Tom Martin to face the lefthanded Bonds, who ripped a 3-1 pitch into right field to plate pinch runner Fred Lewis with the go-ahead run.

"We didn't give up, we didn't think about it," Bonds said. "We're a veteran team that's not going to hang our heads over a couple of runs."

"There's not much more I can say about Barry," Giants manager Felipe Alou added.

Ray Durham was thrown out trying to score on the play, but Todd Greene picked up the slack one batter later, crushing a two-run triple off the wall in right field to give the Giants a 6-3 lead. Moises Alou capped the rally with an RBI double for the Giants, who improved to 6-3 this season at Coors Field.

"We needed to salvage this game for sure," Greene said. "Hopefully a win like that can help us get a streak going. It was good timing for all of us. It's a good win for us and hopefully the hole we dug is not too deep."

Rookie righthander Brian Wilson (2-3) tossed one scoreless relief frame to pick up the win and veteran lefthander Mike Stanton worked around a pair of hits in the ninth to record his eighth save.

Rookie Manuel Corpas (1-2) suffered the loss, yielding three runs, three hits and a walk without recording an out in the eighth inning.

The Rockies' bullpen wasted a strong outing from starter Aaron Cook, who yielded just three hits and three walks with five strikeouts over six scoreless frames.

"It was one of the days you just want to forget about, it was a chain reaction," said Colorado lefthander Ray King, who yielded a two-run pinch homer to Moises Alou in the seventh. "It started with myself and the next guy and all the way to the end.

"You give up five runs in a couple innings, especially that late in the ballgame, you're not going to get many wins."

Giants ace righthander Jason Schmidt struggled, surrendering three runs, four hits and a season-high seven walks in just 4 2/3 innings.