NL: Bonds, Giants tighten up the wild-card standings
By wire services
Published August 30, 2004
ATLANTA - Barry Bonds hit a pair of mammoth two-run homers - giving him 696 career - and went 4-for-5 with six RBIs, leading the Giants to a 9-5 win over the Braves. The home runs that traveled an estimated total of 929 feet were the second and third longest in Turner Field history.
Bonds had a chance for his first five-hit game in the eighth, but rookie right-hander Roman Colon struck him out. As Bonds trotted around the bases after ripping his first homer, a belt-high fastball from Russ Ortiz that flew 467 feet into the right field stands in the third inning, the Atlanta fans stood and cheered him. When he trotted out to leftfield after giving the Giants a 2-0 lead, fans seated there gave him another standing ovation.
The drive was Bonds' 37th homer of the season, and was bested only a shot by Sammy Sosa that traveled 471 feet at the Atlanta park on Sept. 1, 2001.
Bonds hit his 38th in the fifth. He drilled an 88 mph fastball from Ortiz into the same area. This one went 462 feet.
The Giants are one percentage point behind the Cubs and Padres in the wild-card race.
CUBS 10, ASTROS 3: With tensions running high, visiting Houston kept its cool and climbed back into playoff contention. Lance Berkman homered and Carlos Hernandez earned his first major-league win in almost two years in the final meeting of a testy season series. Houston's Carlos Beltran left with a bruised knee after he was hit by a pitch in the eighth. Later in the inning, Berkman appeared to be plunked in the helmet by Cubs reliever Mike Remlinger. Berkman stayed on the ground for several minutes, clutching his helmet. He said the ball hit him, but Remlinger and the Cubs believe Berkman was pulling a stunt. "I thought it was pretty chicken," Remlinger said. "You hit somebody and it turns out that you look at the tape and Berkman didn't even get hit. (He) was pretending he got hit in the face and thinking maybe you put somebody in the hospital and then you find out he's faking it. That speaks for itself, pretty poor."
PADRES 11, EXPOS 3: David Wells won his seventh consecutive road decision and had a run-scoring single for visiting San Diego. Ryan Klesko and Khalil Greene each hit two-run homers for San Diego. Wells allowed eight hits and three runs in seven innings, improving to 3-0 in his past four starts. His two-out single in the fourth scored Klesko and put San Diego up 4-0. Sun-Woo Kim fell to 0-5 in 10 starts since winning his first two. He allowed nine hits in four-plus innings.
CARDINALS 4, PIRATES 0: Albert Pujols hit his 40th home run and reached 100 RBIs for the fourth consecutive season as visiting St. Louis completed a three-game sweep. Pujols also hit his first triple of the season as he became the fourth to start his career with four straight seasons with at least 100 RBIs. He joined Hall of Famers Al Simmons, Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams in accomplishing the feat. Jason Marquis won his 10th consecutive decision.
DODGERS 10, METS 2: Robin Ventura hit his 17th grand slam for visiting Los Angeles and tied Jimmie Foxx and Ted Williams for fourth on the career list. The Dodgers, who maintained a five-game lead in the West, scored three unearned runs in the fourth inning to take a 4-1 lead against the league's worst-fielding team. Ventura made only his 19th start of the season.
MARLINS 8, ROCKIES 4: A.J. Burnett struck out a team-record 14 in eight impressive innings and Miguel Cabrera homered for host Florida. Mike Lowell also homered for the Marlins, who moved within four games of the wild-card lead. Florida is four games above .500 for the first time since being 41-37 on June 30.
PHILLIES 10, BREWERS 0: Cory Lidle homered and threw a four-hitter for his second shutout of the season and Marlon Byrd hit a grand slam for host Philadelphia. Milwaukee's losing streak is now at 10. Lidle struck out a season-high nine.
REDS 6, D'BACKS 2: Edgar Gonzalez threw no-hit ball for six innings but Adam Dunn's 39th homer helped rally host Cincinnati. Ryan Freel drove in the winning run with a single in the eighth.
