Bonds Joins an Exclusive Club

Barry Bonds got one record out of the way, started another, then was cut short by umpire Mark Hirschbeck in the sixth inning Saturday at San Francisco.

Bonds’ third-inning homer in the Giants’ 6-3 victory over Florida made him only the fourth player to hit 300 homers and steal 300 bases.

The others were his father, Bobby Bonds; his godfather, Willie Mays, and Andre Dawson.

“It’s a good feeling, but I’ve got another record of my own: 400-400,” Bonds said.

He started on that with a homer in the fifth inning, but was ejected by Hirschbeck in the sixth for arguing a third-strike call.

“It doesn’t seem real right now,” Bonds said about the 300-300 club. “I’ve still got a lot of years left and it doesn’t seem like it should be here that fast.”

Mark Leiter (2-3) gave up six hits over 8 2/3 innings in pitching the victory for San Francisco. He struck out seven and left after giving up an RBI double to Gary Sheffield in the ninth. Rod Beck got one out for his fifth save.

Terry Pendleton homered and hit a sacrifice fly for the Marlins.

Steve Scarsone hit a two-run double before Bonds hit his eighth homer this season and the 300th of his career into the bleachers in center field.

Bonds raised his arms over his head while circling the bases to a standing ovation and later came out of the dugout to bow to fans.

He added a solo homer in the fifth inning. Bonds has 28 multi-homer games and 346 steals.

After seeing a replay of the pitch he struck out on in the sixth inning, the sometimes surly Bonds did something unusual.

“That was a good call. It was my fault,” said Bonds. “I went into the umpire’s room and apologized to him [Hirschbeck].”

Houston 6, San Diego 0--Shane Reynolds pitched a four-hitter and Jeff Bagwell hit a two-run homer at San Diego for the Astros, who ended the Padres’ six-game winning streak.

Reynolds (4-1) struck out four in helping end Houston’s three-game losing streak.

Bagwell homered off Andy Ashby (3-1) in the first inning after Craig Biggio walked. It was Bagwell’s eighth homer of the season.

Colorado 6, Montreal 5--Ellis Burks singled home Walt Weiss from second base with one out in the 13th inning at Denver, where the Rockies ended Montreal’s eight-game winning streak.

The game lasted 4 hours 51 minutes, making it the longest in terms of time in Rockies’ history. It exceeded the 4:47, which is how long it took to play the first regular-season game ever at Coors Field on April 26, 1995.

Atlanta 7, St. Louis 2--Javier Lopez had three RBIs and Fred McGriff hit a three-run homer in support of Greg Maddux (4-1), who gave up eight hits over seven innings at St. Louis.

McGriff’s three-run shot in the eighth inning off reliever Rick Honeycutt was his third homer in four games after going 18 games without a homer.

Philadelphia 3, Cincinnati 2--Mike Lieberthal singled in Mark Whiten with the winning run in the ninth inning at Cincinnati, which lost its seventh game in a row.

The Phillies extended their winning streak to a season-high five games behind Terry Mulholland, who pitched seven strong innings. Dave Leiper (1-0) pitched the eighth, and Ricky Bottalico closed for his eighth save.

New York 7, Pittsburgh 4--Kevin Roberson hit a three-run homer off Pirate closer Dan Miceli in the ninth inning for the Mets at Pittsburgh.