Bonds’ Ninth-Inning Hit Wins Game

Barry Bonds singled home the winning run with two out in the ninth inning, leading the San Francisco Giants to a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night at San Francisco.

Bonds emphatically stomped on first base after his hit, which got the Giants back on track after they’d lost two straight.

Juan Rincon (1-2) walked Jose Cruz Jr., Ray Durham and Rich Aurilia in the ninth, loading the bases for Bonds. The Giant star drove the first pitch to right field.

Bonds hit an RBI triple earlier in the game.

Tim Worrell (2-2) worked the ninth for the win.

Torii Hunter doubled twice and drove in a run for Minnesota. Brad Radke pitched into the eighth but got in trouble in the eighth, allowing the Giants to tie the score.

The Giants scored twice in the eighth to tie it.

Cruz went into the game in the top of the inning as a defensive replacement, then singled to lead off the bottom half to break an 0-for-12 slump. Marquis Grissom doubled home Cruz and Durham singled. Aurilia doubled to score Grissom.

Cincinnati 6, New York Yankees 2 -- Ken Griffey Jr. hit one of Cincinnati’s four homers off Mike Mussina, connecting despite an injured arm.

Griffey strained his right biceps on a swing against Mussina in the fifth inning, but stayed in the game and hit a solo homer on the next pitch for a 4-2 lead at Cincinnati. Griffey held the arm gingerly at his side as he rounded the bases, then left the game.

Griffey, who missed 5 1/2 weeks because of a dislocated right shoulder, winced in pain after fouling back a one-strike pitch in the fifth. Griffey then hit the 475th homer of his career, tying Willie Stargell and Stan Musial for 22nd place on the all-time list. He held the right arm carefully at his side as he rounded the bases, then gave high-fives with his other arm before heading for the trainer’s room. He is not expected to miss significant playing time.

Boston 11-8, Pittsburgh 4-3 -- Trot Nixon homered for the second consecutive game as the Red Sox completed a doubleheader sweep at Pittsburgh.

Derek Lowe gave up two runs -- one earned -- and five hits over seven innings in the second game to win for the second time in his last three starts.

In the opener, Byung-Hyun Kim (1-0) gave up one run and five hits over seven innings in his first start with Boston since being acquired from Arizona for third baseman Shea Hillenbrand.

Boston moved back into first place in the AL East for the first time since May 29, a half-game ahead of the New York Yankees.

Colorado 2, Cleveland 1 -- Darren Oliver pitched four scoreless innings after a shaky start as the Rockies won the third-lowest scoring game in Coors Field history.

The only games with fewer runs were on June 16, 1995, when Atlanta beat the Rockies, 2-0, and on Aug. 9 last year, when the Rockies beat the Chicago Cubs by the same score.

St. Louis 8, Toronto 5 -- Miguel Cairo ended an 0-for-18 slump with three hits as the Cardinals again battered Blue Jay pitching at St. Louis.

The Cardinals won the first game of the series,11-5, and have won three in a row overall, making them 5-4 on a 13-game home stand.

Edgar Renteria had a two-run double and slow-footed Tino Martinez and Mike Matheny had back-to-back triples in the sixth.

Detroit 5, San Diego 3 -- The Padres replaced the Tigers as the worst team in baseball.

The Tigers handed off their dubious distinction in person, beating the Padres as pitcher Steve Avery had a pinch-hit single and scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning. The Tigers beat the Padres for the second straight night.

Detroit (16-40) popped ahead of San Diego (17-43) by three percentage points.

Detroit became the first major league team to have consecutive 0-9 starts. But the Padres have been in a free-fall since late April, losing 30 of 37 games.

Houston 6, Baltimore 4 -- Wade Miller gave up four hits over seven innings as the Astros rallied to win at Houston.

Trailing 3-2, the Astros scored three runs in the seventh on an RBI double by Craig Biggio, a run-scoring single by pinch-hitter Gregg Zaun and a wild pitch by B.J. Ryan, who had replaced starter Pat Hentgen (1-3) after Biggio’s double.

Oakland 6, Florida 5 -- Scott Hatteberg hit an RBI single in the eighth inning to provide the difference at Miami.

Chad Bradford (4-3) got the victory, escaping a jam in the seventh after relieving with runners at the corners and the score 5-5.

Bradford struck out Ivan Rodriguez and Mike Lowell, issued a walk that loaded the bases, and retired Derrek Lee on a grounder.

Atlanta 5, Texas 2 -- Greg Maddux pitched eight strong innings and drove in a run at Atlanta.

Maddux (5-5) has put together three straight effective starts in an up-and-down season.

Over the last 20 innings, he has surrendered only three runs, looking more like a four-time Cy Young winner and not the guy who started the game with an uncharacteristic 4.90 ERA.

Seattle 7, Philadelphia 2 -- John Olerud doubled twice and drove in four runs to back Gil Meche at Philadelphia as the Mariners won their eighth in a row.

Seattle (39-18) has the best record in the major leagues and has won a team-record 12 straight road games. Overall, the Mariners are on their longest winning streak since taking 10 straight from April 8-17 last year.

Arizona 8, Chicago White Sox 6 -- Shea Hillenbrand hit his first National League home run and doubled twice to help the Diamondbacks at Phoenix.

Hillenbrand, in his fourth game since going to the Diamondbacks from Boston, had an RBI double to right in the first, a two-run homer to left in the third and a double to the left field corner in the fifth.

Magglio Ordonez hit his 10th home run of the season to lead off the second for the White Sox, who lost their fifth in a row and eighth of 11.

Tampa Bay 5, Chicago Cubs 2 -- The Devil Rays got solid pitching from right-hander Victor Zambrano (2-3), who gave up only three hits in seven innings and struck out eight at Chicago.

Milwaukee at New York -- The game was rained out for the second night in a row and will be made up as part of a doubleheader today.