Giants Continue Late-Inning Heroics

Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants have built the best record in the majors not with towering homers, but with a pinch of luck and a large dose of clutch late-inning hits.

Bonds’ slicing popup turned into a three-run inside-the-park homer and Bill Mueller singled in the winning run in the ninth as the Giants defeated the Atlanta Braves, 4-3, on Wednesday at San Francisco for their 10th victory in 11 games.

The Giants have won four games in the past week in their last at-bat.

“We know we’re not a power team like the Braves or Marlins, so we have to do the little things,” Bonds said. “Our pitching has been outstanding. Our bullpen has been outstanding. And we’ve been getting clutch hitting.”

The Giants’ 14-4 mark matches that of the 1971 team for the best start since the club moved to San Francisco in 1958.

Bonds got only his second homer of the year when he blooped a ball down the left-field line in the first inning and it bounced just out of the reach of a diving Ryan Klesko, who tumbled into the wall.

As a stunned Klesko slowly retrieved the ball from the left-field corner, Bonds sped around the bases and scored standing up.

“The ball kind of faded on me. I stretched out and dove for it, and then I hit that rubber mat. I felt it in my head, my neck and my shoulders. It kind of dazed me,” Klesko said. “I just kind of sat there. By the time I realized it was down the line, it was too late.”

Atlanta starter Tom Glavine settled down after that. He gave up three runs on nine hits in eight innings, and the Braves rallied for three runs in the seventh to tie the game.

But the Giants, who are 7-1 in one-run games this season, scored off Alan Embree (1-1) in the ninth for the victory.

Marcus Jensen opened the ninth by walking on four pitches. Dante Powell ran for Jensen and moved to second on a sacrifice. Mueller then grounded a single between first and second, and Powell slid around the tag of catcher Javy Lopez for the winning run.

“The first couple of weeks, if you get some wins in the ninth inning it makes you more confident,” Mueller said. “The later innings are becoming the best part of our game.”

Doug Henry (2-0) pitched the ninth.

New York 10, Cincinnati 2--Todd Hundley hit a pair of two-run homers and drove in five runs, leading the Mets over the Reds at New York, stretching the Reds’ losing streak to four.

Mark Clark (2-1) gave up both runs and seven hits in seven innings, sending the Reds to their ninth loss on a 10-game road trip.

John Olerud doubled twice and had two runs batted in for the Mets, who out-hit Cincinnati, 14-7.

Deion Sanders tripled and singled twice for Cincinnati. Reds starter Mike Morgan (0-2) gave up six runs and seven hits in three innings with six strikeouts and two walks.

Cincinnati scored in the first when Sanders tripled and came around on Lenny Harris’ groundout. But the Mets went ahead in the bottom half on Lance Johnson’s single and Hundley’s first homer since April 7.

Pittsburgh 3, Philadelphia 2--Mark Johnson hit a go-ahead single in the eighth inning, leading the Pirates over the Phillies at Pittsburgh.

Jermaine Allensworth sparked the rally with a two-out bunt single off Jerry Spradlin (0-1). Left-hander Erik Plantenberg relieved to face a pair of left-handed hitters, but Al Martin reached on an infield single and Johnson hit a soft-liner that landed in right as Allensworth scored.

Ricardo Rincon (2-1) came on to strike out Gregg Jefferies with two on in the eighth and finished with hitless relief.

Montreal 4, Chicago 3--Henry Rodriguez went three for four and drove in the go-ahead run with a fifth-inning double as Expos rallied from a three-run deficit to defeat the Cubs at Montreal.

With the score 3-3, David Segui doubled off Terry Mulholland (0-3) leading off the fifth and Rodriguez doubled into the right-field corner with one out.

Expo starter Jim Bullinger (1-3), signed as a free agent in the off-season after being cast off by the Cubs, gave up three runs and five hits in six innings, helping Montreal to its fourth win in a row.

Houston 11, San Diego 7--Jeff Bagwell hit a three-run homer and Brad Ausmus drove in three runs on a pair of doubles as the Astros overcame four errors to defeat the Padres as San Diego.

The Astros had a season-high 18 hits, giving them 33 in sweeping the two-game series. Bagwell, who drove in four runs, Ausmus, Bill Spiers and Thomas Howard each had three hits.

Bagwell broke a 6-6 tie with his fifth homer, driving the first pitch from reliever Tim Scott an estimated 399 feet into the bleachers in left-center in the sixth. Biggio had drawn a walk and Spiers had singled off Tim Worrell (1-3) before Bagwell’s homer.

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BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

Player: Todd Hundley

Team: New York

Performance: 3 for 5, 3 runs, 5 RBIs, pair of 2-run home runs

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: M. Grudzielanek

Team: Montreal

Performance: 3 for 5, 2 RBIs, 10-game hitting streak

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Barry Bonds

Team: San Francisco

Performance: 2 for 4, 3 RBIs, inside-the-park home run

Team’s Result: Win

*

PITCHING

Player:Mark Clark

Team: New York

Performance: 7 innings, 2 runs, 4 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Jamey Wright

Team: Colorado

Performance: 7 innings, 3 runs; drove in 2 runs

Team’s Result: Win

*

Player: Esteban Loaiza

Team: Pittsburgh

Performance: 7 2/3 innings, 2 runs, 4 strikeouts

Team’s Result: Win