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Ray Durham's reliable bat has caused manager Felipe Alou to envision his leadoff man finding success in the No. 5 hole batting behind Barry Bonds.

 

AP

After a 12-game homerless drought, Barry Bonds hits his fourth home run in five days in the Giants' win.  

 

"No, no, no, that's too much pressure,'' Durham said, chuckling. "Leave me in the leadoff spot to ignite the offense.''

That's just what Durham did.

Durham homered twice and drove in a career-high five runs, and Bonds hit his third homer in three days in the San Francisco Giants' 7-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Friday night.

 

 

 

Marquis Grissom also homered for the Giants, who scored at least six runs for starter Kirk Rueter (4-6) for the fourth time this season in his 17 starts.

Durham, who had two stints on the disabled list this season with a left hamstring strain and a strained patellar tendon in his left knee, is feeling the best he has since joining the Giants last season.

Durham also was sidelined twice in 2003, marking the first time in his career he'd missed significant time because of injury. All of his DL time caused some in the baseball world to wonder whether he'd suddenly become injury-prone at age 32.

 

 

"A lot of people are getting a little taste of a healthy me and what I can do,'' said Durham, who had his fifth career multihomer game.

Bonds, who went 1-for-3 with an intentional walk, hit his 22nd home run of the year and No. 680 of his career. He sent a 3-2 pitch from Mark Redman (6-5) over the wall in left-center for a solo shot leading off the fourth to put the Giants ahead 4-3. Bonds has four homers in five days following a 12-game homerless drought.

Rueter won for the second time in four starts despite falling behind 3-0 in the first. He had two straight no-decisions coming in, including last Saturday's 8-7, 10-inning loss to the A's in Oakland. He allowed three runs and six hits in six innings, walked three and struck out one.

"I'm glad we're finally starting to get him support so he can go out and relax,'' Durham said. "A lot of guys would have panicked after the first inning, but he barreled down. I think he took it upon himself to keep us in the game.''

Jim Brower and Matt Herges combined for three innings of scoreless relief.

Oakland gave up four home runs a day after hitting a season-high five to complete a three-game sweep of division rival Anaheim. The A's had won six of eight, with the two losses during that stretch coming to San Francisco last weekend.

Redman lost his second straight start to the Giants after a defeat last Sunday pitching on three days' rest in place of the injured Tim Hudson. He allowed four runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings.

On Friday, the lefty was tagged for seven runs on six hits in six innings. He walked five and struck out one.

 

 

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"You always want to keep it in the big part of the park,'' Redman said. "I guess that was a jet stream out there. I want all of them back.''

During last year's NL division series, Redman got a no-decision against the Giants in Florida's 4-3, 11-inning Game 3 win.

Grissom hit his 13th homer of the year on a 3-2 pitch in the first, a solo shot to left. Durham hit a two-run homer to left in the third for his fifth of the season, then connected for a three-run shot with two outs in the sixth.

"Done in by the long ball,'' A's manager Ken Macha said. "Durham pretty much did us in.''

The A's took a 3-0 lead in the first on RBI triples by Eric Byrnes and Jermaine Dye, and Damian Miller's run-scoring single.

Oakland, which began a nine-game road trip, has lost 13 of 17 away from home.

 

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The A's are anxious to get back to full strength. They have six players on the disabled list after lefty reliever Arthur Rhodes was placed on the DL before the game with a back strain. The club has used the DL eight times this season after needing it only six times in all of 2003.

Mark Kotsay was thrown out at the plate trying to score the tying run for the A's in the fifth. Byrnes doubled deep to the corner in left, Bonds hit shortstop Neifi Perez on the relay just behind third base, and Perez fired home a perfect throw to catcher Yorvit Torrealba, who put a hard tag on Kotsay.

Bonds was intentionally walked in the fifth -- the inning after his homer -- giving him 117 walks on the year and 62 intentional. That leaves the six-time NL MVP four walks shy of passing Rickey Henderson (2,190) for the major league record.

Notes: Coming into the game, Bonds had one other at-bat against Redman -- and it was a homer. ... The Giants are 11-5 in interleague games, while the A's fell to 8-8. ... Rueter is 6-3 in 12 career outings against the A's. He improved to 14-5 in interleague. ... The Giants sold out for the eighth straight game, drawing 42,586.

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bonds ties another historic record today

walks

he will break it next game he plays

it is fun watching bonds make history