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Strolling along Bonds matches McGwire's record with three ... walks
Updated: Thursday September 27, 2001 9:22 AM
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Barry Bonds remained at 67 homers Wednesday night, but his presence was crucial in the San Francisco Giants' most significant win to date this year. Bonds reached base four times, and scored the go-ahead run in the ninth as the Giants rallied for a 6-4 victory against the Los Angeles Dodgers to keep pace with the NL West-leading Arizona Diamondbacks. "Arizona won, so we had to win," Bonds said. "It was a good game, a lot of pressure for both sides. It was fun." Bonds went 1-for-2 with three walks, the third of which came in the ninth and tied Mark McGwire's 1998 NL record of 162. Babe Ruth set the major league mark of 170 in 1923. Bonds has nine games left to break Ruth's mark as well as McGwire's big league standard of 70 home runs, also set three years ago. John Vander Wal's two-out, two-run single capped a three-run rally in the ninth. Robb Nen pitched the bottom of the inning for his NL-leading 42nd save in 49 chances, retiring Adrian Beltre on a long fly to right with two runners on base to end the game.
"Vandy won that game, man, and Robb closed it," Bonds said. "Go talk to them, let them have the credit. I'm just glad we won, that's all that's important right now." Rich Aurilia doubled off Jeff Shaw (3-5) to start the winning rally, and Bonds walked on a full-count pitch. Jeff Kent grounded out, with the runners moving up, before Edwards Guzman was walked intentionally to load the bases. Benito Santiago hit a tying sacrifice fly before left-hander Jesse Orosco relieved Shaw. The left handed-hitting Vander Wal blooped the first pitch to center, driving in Bonds and Guzman. The 35-year-old Vander Wal, acquired by the Giants from Pittsburgh two months ago, said the hit was the second-biggest of his career -- behind a two-run homer he hit off Atlanta's John Smoltz in the 1998 NL Championship Series while playing for San Diego. "This rates a close second," he said. "This was a huge game. We knew Arizona was winning big, [Randy Johnson] pitches for them tomorrow, and we don't play. We couldn't afford to go three games back with nine to play." The Giants trail Arizona, a 15-9 winner against Milwaukee on Wednesday night, by 1 1/2 games, while the Dodgers, playing their last home game, fell 4 1/2 games off the pace. San Francisco is three games behind St. Louis in the wild-card race. "Every one now is our biggest win of the year," Giants manager Dusty Baker said. "It was our biggest comeback against a quality guy." The blown save was Shaw's ninth in 48 chances. "That was some ballgame, the most emotional of the year," Baker said. The Dodgers took a 4-3 lead in the eighth on Eric Karros' sacrifice fly off Felix Rodriguez (9-1). The Giants had tied it in the top half on J.T. Snow's RBI single off Matt Herges. "It's a tough loss," Paul Lo Duca said in a hushed Dodgers clubhouse. "Now, we're in a really big hole. This sets us back big-time. We keep making it tougher on ourselves." The Dodgers begin a three-game series at Arizona on Friday night before finishing with three-game series at San Diego and San Francisco. "We've still got to fight," Dodgers outfielder Gary Sheffield said. "It looks bleak, but you've got to keep going." Dodgers outfielder Shawn Green, who has a franchise-record 48 homers and 119 RBIs, sat out his first game since 1999 in observance of Yom Kippur, the holiest holiday on the Jewish calendar. Beltre's RBI single off Jason Schmidt in the first gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. Shawon Dunston hit his ninth homer off Terry Mulholland in the second, but the Dodgers took a 3-1 lead in the third on a sacrifice fly by Lo Duca and a two-out error by third baseman Pedro Feliz. The Giants made it 3-2 in the fourth on doubles by Dunston and Feliz. Giovanni Carrara walked Bonds intentionally with a runner at second and two outs in the seventh. Kent followed with a single, but left fielder Sheffield threw Marvin Benard out at the plate. Notes: The attendance was 49,320, raising the season total at Dodger Stadium to 3,017,502. The Dodgers have drawn more than 3 million fans six consecutive years and in a big league record 16 seasons. ... Green had played in 415 straight games -- longest active streak in baseball. Arizona's Luis Gonzalez now holds that distinction, having played in 317 in a row. ... Giants 3B Ramon Martinez, hit in the right elbow by Chan Ho Park's pitch Tuesday night, was replaced in the lineup by Feliz. ... Beltre batted third, Green's usual slot, for the first time this season, and had three of his team's six hits. ... Kent hit his 46th double in the fifth, tying the Giants' franchise record set in 1978 by current Dodgers hitting coach Jack Clark. ... Bonds went 4-for-35 with one homer in 10 games at Dodger Stadium this season.
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