Bonds ties Mays with 660th home run

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, April 13, 2004

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Barry Bonds hit his 660th home run to match godfather Willie Mays for third on baseball's career list and help the San Francisco Giants defeat the Milwaukee Brewers 7-5 on Monday.

Bonds' latest milestone homer came exactly as he would have scripted it: at home before a sellout crowd to give the Giants the lead.

The San Francisco slugger's towering three-run shot off Matt Kinney splashed into McCovey Cove and put the Giants up 5-4.

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The estimated 442-foot blast was Bonds' second of the season. He was greeted at home by several teammates. Mays hurried to congratulate the six-time NL MVP, giving his godson a hug and a kiss outside the dugout. Mays presented him with a torch decorated with 25 tiny diamonds, symbolic of the number Bonds wears. They both carried the torch before the 2002 Olympics.

Bonds finished 3-for-3 with four RBIs and two runs scored.

Pirates 13, Cubs 2

CHICAGO (AP) - Greg Maddux's Wrigley Field homecoming with the Chicago Cubs was upstaged by Kris Benson.

Benson allowed one hit in six superb innings, outpitching a wild and ineffective Maddux in Chicago's first game at Wrigley Field since losing last year's NL championship series.

Maddux (0-2) left the Cubs in 1992 after winning the first of four straight Cy Young Awards, signing with the Atlanta Braves.

He lasted only 3 2-3 innings, giving up five walks, eight hits and six runs.

Mets 10, Braves 6

NEW YORK (AP) - The New York Mets hardly missed Mike Piazza and Cliff Floyd in their home opener.

Newcomers Kaz Matsui and Mike Cameron each drove in two runs, Steve Trachsel was terrific on the mound and at the plate in a New York victory.

Todd Zeile added three hits as a makeshift Mets lineup roughed up former teammate Mike Hampton (0-1) in building a 10-0 lead.

New York played without Floyd, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right quadriceps, and Piazza, out of the lineup because of a sore right elbow following a collision at first base Sunday.

Rockies 7, Diamondbacks 4

DENVER (AP) - The Colorado Rockies rallied for four runs in the seventh inning, capitalizing on Arizona reliever Jose Valverde's wildness.

The Rockies erased a 3-0 deficit in their home opener before a sellout crowd of 48,013.

The Rockies had just one hit in their winning rally. Colorado loaded the bases with a single and two walks off Mike Koplove (0-1), then Koplove walked in a run. Valverde relieved and hit a batter and threw two wild pitches - all allowed runs to score.

Astros 10, Cardinals 5

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Richard Hidalgo hit a three-run home run and broke an eighth-inning tie with a sacrifice fly to lead Houston to a win.

Craig Biggio had three doubles, three RBIs and scored three times for the Astros. Ricky Stone (1-0) pitched one scoreless inning to get the win.

Hidalgo's homer in the first off St. Louis starter Woody Williams gave the Astros a 4-0 lead.

Hidalgo's sacrifice fly in the eighth made it 6-5, and Biggio hit a three-run double later in the inning to break the game open.

Mike Lincoln (2-1) allowed five runs in 1 1-3 innings of relief for St. Louis.