SAN FRANCISCO - For a few moments Barry Bonds was a baseball player again instead of a grieving son. With the fans on their feet chanting his name, he came to the plate with the game on the line and delivered.
Bonds hit his 651st home run leading off the 10th as the Giants snapped their longest losing streak in three years with a 5-4 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night.
"I know it's great for Barry," Giants manager Felipe Alou said. "But for these guys, his teammates, and for all of us, it's something uplifting. We needed it to keep us together."
In his first game since taking off the weekend series in Montreal to be with his ailing father Bobby, Bonds hit his major league-leading 38th homer on a 2-and-1 pitch from Ray King, giving the Giants their first win in seven games.
"I threw a pitch I left up to a great hitter and he, like, hit it," King said. "I'm not going to put him on a pedestal but he's a good hitter who hit a difficult pitch."
Bonds raised both arms in celebration and pumped his fist as he started his slow trot and watched his drive sail over the concourse in right and into McCovey Cove.
"I just got a lot of emotions going for me and my dad," Bonds said before he quickly left.
"Barry is so great you come to expect stuff like that," said Tim Worrell, who pitched two scoreless innings for the victory. "It's amazing his ability to focus with all he's been through."
It was Bonds' eighth career winning home run and sixth with the Giants.
"He's going to hit 700 home runs, but the way we were going there were none bigger than that," Alou said. "It was an incredible feeling. To come out without any practice in almost a week and to end the game like that, I mean that's something."
Jose Cruz also homered for the Giants.
Giants pinch-runner Todd Linden scored on Trey Hodges' wild pitch with two outs in the eighth to tie the score at 4.
