Bonds homers in SF victory

DENVER -- Barry Bonds got to trot around the bases for a change, not just to first.

Bonds homered for the first time this season, hitting No. 709 of his career to help the San Francisco Giants beat Colorado, 6-4, last night.

He sliced a belt-high fastball from righthander Aaron Cook 384 feet to left field, moving within five home runs of Babe Ruth for most by a lefthanded hitter. It came in Bonds's 31st at-bat and 13th game this year. In 1998, he didn't homer until his 13th game and 50th at-bat, the longest season-opening drought of his career.

Brad Hennessey (2-0) allowed four runs and five hits in seven innings for the win. Scott Munter pitched the eighth and Armando Benitez worked the ninth for his first save.

Benitez struck out Clint Barmes with runners at second and third to end it.

Bonds got off to a slow start this season, hounded by steroid suspicions, a federal probe into his testimony in the BALCO steroid case, and baseball's investigation of performance-enhancing drugs. He's also been plagued by sore knees, a swollen left elbow, and few pitchers willing to challenge him -- he walked 19 times before hitting his first home run. Bonds brought a .200 batting average and just one RBI into last night's game.

In the series opener Friday night, he swung at two of the 17 pitches he saw, flying out to the warning track in center his first time up, then drawing three walks before grounding out to first. Rockies manager Clint Hurdle vowed not to pitch to Bonds if he didn't have to: ''Let him find his rhythm somewhere else."

After Omar Vizquel led off with his first homer of the year, Bonds came up with nobody on and two outs. Cook (1-3) went right after him but left a fastball over the plate and Bonds sent it into the left-field seats for a 2-0 lead. Bonds has now homered off 417 pitchers, with Mark McGwire second at 362.

After circling the bases, Bonds knocked fists with teammates Moises Alou and Pedro Feliz and manager Felipe Alou as he descended into the third base dugout to jeers and a scattering of applause.

To chants of ''Steroids, Steroids" the rest of the night, Bonds grounded out, lined out, reached on an error, and walked on a full count.

Ray Durham also hit his first homer of the season, making it 3-0 in the third. The Giants scored two unearned runs in the fifth to make it 5-1.

The Rockies cut it to 5-4 in the bottom half on Matt Holliday's three-run homer off Hennessey, who allowed Brad Hawpe's fifth homer in the fourth.

The Giants made it 6-4 when Jason Ellison scored on Pedro Feliz's double-play grounder in the ninth.