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Happy birthday Bonds' walkoff blast extends Giants' win streak to eightPosted: Thursday July 24, 2003 6:49 PMUpdated: Thursday July 24, 2003 8:11 PM
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Barry Bonds threw himself quite a birthday bash. Bonds led off the bottom of the ninth inning with his 646th career homer only moments after making a spectacular, run-saving throw to give the San Francisco Giants their eighth straight win, 3-2 over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday. Playing on his 39th birthday, the star left fielder threw out Craig Counsell at the plate in the top of the ninth, sending fans at Pacific Bell Park into a frenzy. Then, it got even more crazy. Bonds followed with his major league-leading 33rd homer, giving him a San Francisco record 470 to pass Willie McCovey (469). The crowd of 42,666 remained standing for several minutes, chanting "Barry! Barry!" and Bonds stepped out of the dugout and waved. It was Bonds' seventh career game-ending homer, but he didn't stick around to celebrate. He rushed off to a hospital to visit his father, Bobby, who has lung cancer. "My dad's in the hospital right now and I've got to go," Bonds said. Mike Myers (0-1) allowed the solo homer to left-center on his first pitch. Bonds entered the at-bat with 31 plate appearances against Myers but only two extra-base hits and two RBIs. Ray Durham homered twice and doubled as the Giants moved 11 games ahead of the second-place Diamondbacks in the NL West. Arizona lost its sixth straight game and dropped its ninth in a row at Pac Bell, falling to 0-6 at the park this year. "When you're in a haunted house, that's the way things are," Arizona's Mark Grace said. Durham was asked if he's ever had this much fun. "I did win 20 games with Oakland," he said, smiling and shaking his head in delight as he recalled the A's amazing streak in 2002. "Every time we go on the field we definitely have a chance to win," he said. "That's the way we're thinking right now. We enjoy coming to the ballpark. It's fun." The Giants posted consecutive four-game sweeps for the first time since 1994, when they beat Philadelphia from July 7-10 and Montreal from July 14-17 following the All-Star break. It's only the fourth time they've done it since moving to San Francisco in 1958. After Arizona's Junior Spivey hit a tiebreaking RBI double in the eighth, Durham tied it in the bottom half with his second homer of the game. Tim Worrell (3-3) got two outs for the win. The Giants are undefeated in their 11-game homestand to start the second half. Bonds needs 14 more homers to tie his godfather Willie Mays for third on the all-time list. Only Babe Ruth (714) and Bonds' hero, Hank Aaron (755), have hit more. "In spring training after watching him for a month and a half I was already in awe," Durham said. "What he's doing now, he's in a league of his own." Arizona led off the ninth with back-to-back singles against Felix Rodriguez. After Jason Christiansen came on and struck out Luis Gonzalez, Worrell entered. Shea Hillenbrand singled to left, but Bonds made a fantastic throw home to catcher Yorvit Torrealba, who tagged Counsell just in time. Steve Finley then popped out to end the inning. "It was a great play by probably the best player I've ever seen," Counsell said. The D'backs spoiled a strong start by rookie Brandon Webb. After Durham's double in the fifth, Webb retired the next eight San Francisco hitters, including five straight strikeouts during one stretch, before Durham homered again with one out in the eighth. Durham hit a solo shot to the bleachers in left-center with one out in the third. He had his fourth career multihomer game and first since Oct. 5, 2001, while with the Chicago White Sox. Giants reliever Chad Zerbe made a spot start in place of Jason Schmidt, who missed his start as a precaution because of mild tendinitis in his right forearm and elbow area. The left-hander made only the second start of his career and first this season. He received a standing ovation when he gave way to Matt Herges after 4 2-3 innings and waved to the fans before heading into the dugout. Zerbe allowed one run and six hits, striking out one and walking two. Webb, a right-hander who had his four-start winning streak snapped Saturday at San Diego, held the Giants to three hits through seven innings and struck out the side in the seventh. He also doubled and scored a run in the fifth on Gonzalez's RBI groundout.
Notes: Zerbe threw 62 pitches, 39 strikes. ... Danny Bautista
singled in the sixth for his 500th career hit. ... The crowd was
the third-largest in Pac Bell history. ... Along with Bonds,
Arizona reliever Jose Valverde celebrated a birthday -- his 24th.
... Spivey ended an 0-for-10 slump.
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