Bonds Blasts 3 at Coors
Denver - Barry Bonds homered three times last night,
including the third-longest home run hit at Coors Field, as the San Francisco
Giants beat the Colorado Rockies, 7-4.
It was the fourth three-homer game of Bonds' career and gave him 38 homers
this year and 605 in his career. He is fourth on the career list, trailing only
Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714) and Willie Mays (660).
With a chance to tie the major- league record for homers in a game, Bonds
doubled against Todd Jones (1-4) in San Francisco's three-run ninth, hitting a
flare to leftfield.
Rich Aurilia had an RBI single and Jeff Kent hit a two-run double in the
inning for the Giants, who began the day 2 1/2 games behind Los Angeles in the
National League wild-card race.
Bonds finished 4-for-4 to increase his NL-leading batting average to .366
as he seeks the first batting title of his career.
Bonds increased his lead over Larry Walker, who is hitting .357.
Kent homered and drove in three runs for the Giants. Bonds hit a 492-foot
drive in the first inning off Rockies starter Denny Stark. The ball hit the
wall well behind the centerfield fence.
The only longer homers at Coors Field, which opened in 1995, were hit by
Mike Piazza (496 feet on Sept. 26, 1997) and Walker (493 feet on Aug. 31,
1997).
Bonds walked in the third, then homered again in the sixth off Stark, a
430-foot drive that hit the facing above the first deck in right-center.
He homered again in the seventh, a 390-foot shot into the lower deck in
rightfield off Kent Mercker. Bonds had gone 31 plate appearances and 30 at-bats
without a home run off Mercker.