SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -Barry Bonds’ 747th home run showed he might be finding his stroke again.
Bonds moved within nine of passing Hank Aaron’s record of 755 with a two-run shot Monday night, just the second homer since May 8 for the San Francisco slugger and his first of the month.
The 42-year-old Bonds sent an 0-1 pitch an estimated 438 feet into the seats in right-center for his 13th homer of the year and first against Toronto right-hander Josh Towers, who became the 440th pitcher to allow a homer to Bonds.
The Giants unveiled a new countdown on the main center-field scoreboard featuring a road sign with “Bonds 747” in the middle and “Road to History” on either side.
Bonds hugged and kissed his bat-boy son, Nikolai, when he crossed the plate. Fans jumped to their feet, chanting “Barry, Barry!” as he walked to left field and tipped his cap before the top of the fifth. “Bye, Bye, Baby” – the Giants’ theme song back when Bonds’ godfather, Willie Mays, was on his way to 660 homers – blared from the sound system.
After popping up foul to end the first, Bonds got around on a fastball that Towers left up to tie the score at 3 in the fourth inning.
Bonds had not homered in 33 at-bats since connecting for No. 746 on May 27 against Colorado’s Taylor Buchholz. Bonds missed two games at Arizona last week with shin splints.
He had hit only one home run in 77 at-bats and 108 plate appearances since a shot off the Mets’ Tom Glavine on May 8.
In Bonds’ previous 36 games from April 29 to June 10, he had only four homers after hitting 10 by May 5. It was just his sixth RBI since May 9.
“Barry’s getting pitched very carefully, and that’s always going to be the case,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said before the game. “That’s never going to change. He’s not 100 percent. I had to sit him down a couple days. This game is difficult. When you’re not 100 percent, it makes it that much tougher.”
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