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Spoiled Bonds hits No. 40 but M's rally to beat Giants in 11
Updated: Friday July 13, 2001 3:26 AM
SEATTLE (AP) -- Barry Bonds wanted to talk about his team's tough loss, not his 40th home run. Bonds ended his longest homerless drought of the season, but the Seattle Mariners rallied to beat the San Francisco Giants 4-3 on Tom Lampkin's RBI single in the 11th inning Thursday night. "You don't want to see that happen to your best," said Bonds, referring to David Bell's home run in the ninth off closer Robb Nen that tied the score at 3. Bonds, who had gone 13 games without a homer, hit his 534th career home run to tie Jimmie Foxx for 10th place on the career list. But the Mariners rallied from 3-2 down in the ninth inning when David Bell hit his 10th homer with one out off Nen. It was Nen's fifth blown save in 31 chances. "He throws hard," Bell said. "It's just a matter of putting your bat on the ball. This is a good way for us to start off the second half."
Seattle won it in the 11th. Mike Cameron walked with one out off Brian Boehringer (0-2) and stole his 19th base. With two outs, Lampkin singled up the middle off Chad Zerbe and Cameron beat Ramon Martinez's throw to the plate. "There are very few guys in the world that can score on that play," Bonds said. "Speed kills and it killed us tonight." Arthur Rhodes (6-0) got the victory by striking out the final two Giants in the top of the 11th. Bonds, who went 44 at-bats without a home run, hit a 429-foot shot to right-center in the first inning off Paul Abbott to become the fastest player to reach 40 home runs and give the Giants a 1-0 lead. "I think I've seen all his other home runs on TV this year," Cameron said. "Now, I got to see one live. He's unbelievable." Bonds' first homer since June 23 came in the Giants' 89th game. Mark McGwire hit his 40th homer in St. Louis' 90th game in 1998, when he hit a record 70. "Well, I've been hitting the ball pretty well," he said. "I've got a bunch of doubles." Rich Aurilia, who started along with Bonds in the All-Star game, hit a two-run homer in the sixth off Abbott to give the Giants a 3-2 lead. After Bonds' homer, the Mariners tied the score at 1 on Bell's RBI single in the second. The run was unearned because of Aurilia's fielding error on Ed Sprague's grounder to shortstop. Edgar Martinez gave Seattle a 2-1 lead with a sacrifice fly in the third. In the sixth, Ramon Martinez singled before Aurilia's 13th homer of the season. San Francisco's Kirk Reuter allowed two runs -- one earned -- and six hits in six innings. Abbott gave up three runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings.
Notes: Bonds, 36, homered in his first game at Safeco, giving him home runs in all 26 of the ballparks he's played in, including three new parks this season. He also homered at Milwaukee on April 13 and Pittsburgh on May 2. ... Bonds hit his first career homer in 12 games against Seattle. The Mariners are the 20th team that Bonds has homered against and fourth in the American League. ... Aurilia has a 13-game hitting streak. He also committed two errors, giving him 13 for the season. ... Bell was thrown out twice trying to stretch singles into doubles.
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