Bonds Remains Stuck, but Sosa Doesn’t

Matt Clement was so excited to pitch to Barry Bonds that he couldn’t give the San Francisco slugger anything to hit.

No matter--Sammy Sosa still provided a home run to remember.

Sosa homered twice, including a 461-foot drive to straightaway center, and Bonds was denied his 600th home run for the second consecutive game as the Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants, 9-3, Thursday at San Francisco.

All the attention in the series was focused on Bonds, who hit his 599th homer on Tuesday night. Clement was so worked up for the challenge that he got overexcited and walked Bonds twice on nine pitches in his first two at-bats.

“I was out of control against him, but I was fine against everybody else,” said Clement, who pitched seven shutout innings of two-hit ball. “It was a great atmosphere out here. I was able to settle down, but you’re talking about the best ballplayer of my generation. That was a highlight for my career.”

Bonds went one for two with a single and a strikeout. Instead, the stars were Clement and Sosa, who saved Chicago from being swept and ended San Francisco’s four-game winning streak.

“I really didn’t care how far that home run was,” said Sosa, who hit the second-longest homer in Pacific Bell Park’s three-year history. “My concern was to get the win for Matt, because he pitched a great game. Barry is going to get 600. It’s just a matter of time. He’ll just have to be a little bit more patient.”

While Clement (9-8) got nine strikeouts, Sosa provided the excitement with a two-run homer in the first and the long two-run shot in the eighth against reliever Troy Brohawn.

Sosa leads the NL with 35 homers, and has 485 in his career. His eighth-inning drive, which caromed off the 490-foot sign on one short hop, trails only Andres Galarraga’s 485-foot homer last season in Pac Bell history.

Atlanta 4, Arizona 1--Tom Glavine took a shutout into the ninth inning at Phoenix and John Smoltz reached 40 saves in a season faster than any pitcher.

Julio Franco and Mark De Rosa homered off Brian Anderson (5-8) in the final regular-season matchup of the top two teams in the National League. Franco, who turns 41 on Aug. 23, went three for five with a double and three RBIs.

Glavine (15-6) gave up four hits, struck out five, walked three and hit a batter. Junior Spivey broke up Glavine’s shutout bid with a leadoff home run in the ninth. It was Arizona’s second hit since the first inning.

Smoltz replaced Glavine and got three outs to earn his franchise-record 40th save in Atlanta’s 114th game. Lee Smith of St. Louis was the previous fastest to 40 saves, doing it in his team’s 117th game in 1993.

The Braves have not lost a road series since dropping two of three to the New York Mets on April 15-17. They have won 11 series away from Turner Field and tied four since then.

St. Louis 5, Montreal 3--Matt Morris won his 13th game and the Cardinal hitters broke out of their slump at St. Louis.

Albert Pujols hit a two-run home run in the first and Jim Edmonds had a two-run shot in the second for the Cardinals, whose five runs in the first two innings were one more than their total in the previous four games. St. Louis won for the first time in eight games.

San Diego 7, Philadelphia 4--Ron Gant hit a three-run homer with two out in the ninth inning at San Diego to lead the Padres.

Gant hit Terry Adams’ 2-and-0 fastball 400 feet to left, capping a comeback from a 4-0 deficit.

Colorado 10, Cincinnati 3--Mike Hampton won for the first time since July 5, allowing one unearned run in six innings at Denver.

Hampton (6-13), who already has matched his career high for losses, had been winless in five previous starts. He gave up three hits, walked four and struck out two, working out of trouble in two innings.

New York 9, Milwaukee 0--Steve Trachsel scattered five hits at Milwaukee in his first complete game and shutout of the season.

Trachsel (8-7), who is 5-1 in his last nine starts, pitched his first complete game since Oct. 3.

The only runner he allowed past second base was Alex Sanchez, who tripled in the sixth inning. He was stranded when center fielder Timo Perez made a running catch of Eric Young’s fly to the right-field gap.

Florida 4, Houston 3--Julian Tavarez won for the first time in a month, and Ramon Castro had two hits and three RBIs at Houston.

Braden Looper got his fifth save in eight chances, giving up a two-out triple to Craig Biggio and an RBI single to Lance Berkman before retiring Bagwell on a game-ending fly out.