Two Blasts Put Bonds Past Halfway Point

Barry Bonds is more than halfway to Mark McGwire’s homer record.

Bonds hit his 35th and 36th of the season Friday night, putting himself 12 games ahead of McGwire’s record pace and leading the San Francisco Giants to a 3-1 victory over the neighboring Oakland Athletics at Pacific Bell Park.

Bonds’ 36 homers have come in the Giants’ first 67 games. McGwire hit his 36th in the St. Louis Cardinals’ 79th game when he set the record of 70 in 1998.

Bonds has 21 home runs in his last 25 games, and has homered in six of his last seven games at Pac Bell Park. He went three for three Friday night, including an infield single and a walk. Both homers were solo shots.

Shawn Estes (6-2) gave up one run and four hits in seven innings, lowering his National League-leading earned-run average to 2.41. He gave up Jason Giambi’s run-scoring triple in the sixth inning.

Robb Nen pitched the ninth for his 18th save as the Giants won their fourth in a row. Nen’s 244th save tied him with Dan Quisenberry for 19th on the career list.

Bonds’ first homer of the night, the 529th of his career, came in the first inning and gave the Giants a 1-0 lead. It was an opposite-field shot to left-center off Mark Mulder (8-4), who gave up three runs in six innings.

His second homer was down the line in right, also off Mulder, and gave the Giants a 3-1 lead in the sixth.

It was the 50th multihomer game of Bonds’ career, moving him into seventh place in that category. He had been tied with Eddie Mathews and Mel Ott with 49. It was his fourth such game this season.

Bonds is only the fourth major leaguer to have 35 home runs before the All-Star break--which is still 3 1/2 weeks away. McGwire and Reggie Jackson (1969) had 37 at the All-Star break, while Ken Griffey Jr. had 35 at the break in 1998.

Bonds is 11th on baseball’s career homer list behind Jimmie Foxx, who hit 534, and Mickey Mantle, who hit 536.

Rich Aurilia, who began the night leading the league with a .366 batting average, went 0-for-4 for the Giants and his average dropped to .360.

The Giants’ other run came in the second on a sacrifice fly by Pedro Feliz, who was awarded the starting third base job before the game when the Giants designated Russ Davis for assignment.