Bonds Comes Through in a Giant Way

Barry Bonds tapped his helmet with the handle of his bat in frustration after he fouled off Gabe White’s first pitch. He grimaced when the next one ticked off his bat for strike two.

One pitch and one swing later, Bonds was standing on second base pointing his finger in celebration. With the count against him and the game on the line, he had come through again.

Bonds homered, singled and doubled home the go-ahead run with two out in the eighth inning Tuesday night as the San Francisco Giants rallied from a six-run deficit to defeat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-6, at Cincinnati.

The Giants fell behind, 6-0, as Kirk Rueter struggled through the second-shortest start of his career, but came back with a couple of homers and Bonds’ clutch hit.

San Francisco has won its first two games by overcoming deficits in the eighth inning.

“It gives us a little confidence in our offense,” Bonds said. “It lets us know we’re not out of any game. But you don’t want to play every day like that. It’s suicide.”

Atlanta 11, Philadelphia 3--Greg Maddux hit his first homer since 1992 and also had a two-run single during an eight-run fourth inning at Atlanta.

Maddux became the first pitcher to get two hits in an inning since Todd Stottlemyre did it for the St. Louis Cardinals against the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 30, 1996.

Maddux pitched six innings and gave up one run and eight hits.

He walked none and struck out five.

Derrin Ebert made his major league debut and pitched three innings for a save. The 22-year-old left-hander gave up two runs.

Ryan Klesko and Brian Jordan also homered and Chipper Jones had three hits for the Braves.

Pittsburgh 8, Montreal 2--Jason Schmidt gave up one hit in seven innings--Jose Vidro’s pinch-hit single starting the sixth--and Brian Giles homered and drove in three runs for the Pirates at Pittsburgh.

Schmidt wasn’t bothered by the groin injury that limited him to one start over the final 2 1/2 weeks of spring training.

He struck out six and clearly was in command until being lifted after throwing 95 pitches.

Houston 4, Chicago 2--Carl Everett and Richard Hidalgo hit consecutive home runs in the fourth inning as the Astros opened their final season at the Astrodome with a victory.

Sammy Sosa of the Cubs went hitless in four at-bats and struck out three times in his 1999 debut.

Next season, the Astros move to the $265-million Ballpark at Union Station.

New York 12, Florida 3--Mike Piazza hit a two-run homer and Rick Reed pitched six strong innings for the Mets at Miami.

The Mets, who stranded 14 runners in an opening-day loss to the Marlins, this time raced to a 7-0 lead against Livan Hernandez.