Bonds' HR Ends Giant(s) Slump

April 22, 1998 / 2:52 AM EDT / CBS/AP

This isn't how Barry Bonds planned to snap the San Francisco Giants' homer slump in the ballpark where he no longer likes to hit, against the pitcher he least likes to face.

Bonds and Brent Mayne homered off Pittsburgh's winless Jon Lieber in a 6-3 victory Tuesday night as the Giants ended a four-game losing streak and extended the Pirates' slide to seven games.

Until Bonds' solo shot in the third and Mayne's two-run drive in the fifth, the Giants had an NL-low eight homers in 18 games or as many as Lieber (0-3) has permitted in four starts.

"Barry took some extra batting practice at 3 o'clock and I think it helped him," Giants manager Dusty Baker said of Bonds, who was 1-for-14 before homering. "You've got to start somewhere when you're in a slump. You can't expect to go out and go 4-for-4."

Mark Gardner (2-1) limited Pittsburgh to six hits in his first complete game since Aug. 8 and had two singles himself as the Giants broke out offensively after scoring only five runs during their losing streak.

"I didn't have a very good night I only got one hit and he (Gardner) got two," said Bonds, who has been booed repeatedly in Pittsburgh since leaving the Pirates after the 1992 season.

Bonds, who batted .143 with one RBI last season in Three Rivers Stadium, his old home ballpark, was only 1-for-19 lifetime against Lieber until hitting a first-pitch drive into the center field seats.

The homer, his third of the season and first since April 14, made it 2-0. Mayne had singled and scored on Darryl Hamilton's sacrifice fly in the second.

"We got a good lead and that always makes it easier. We needed to do something coming off what we did against Milwaukee," Gardner said, referring to the Brewers' three-game weekend sweep. "We came out swinging, and I needed to redeem myself after my last start."

Gardner lasted only four innings, allowing six runs on nine hits, in a 13-7 loss to San Diego on April 14.

Was Bonds worried the Giants, who started the night 5 ½ games out, were in danger of falling too far behind the division-leading Padres for comfort?

"It's April!" he said. "Has anybody ever won anything in April?"

The Pirates, however, already are 6 ½ games out, as many as they were at any point last season. Their losing streak is their longest since a seven-game slide June 10-16, 1993.

"Nobody wants to go out there and be embarrassed, and we're getting embarrassed right now," said Lieber (0-3), whose ERA climbed to 6.94.

J.T. Snow, hitless in 15 at-bats, followed Bonds' homer in the third with a double. Rich Aurilia later walked a batter ahead of Rey Sanchez's two-run single.

In the fifth, Aurilia doubled with two outs and Mayne, the backup cather who previously had no homers or RBIs with the Giants, hit a two-run drive to left the fourth two-out homer allowed by Lieber in as many starts.

Lieber gave up three homers, all of them two-run shots with two outs, in a 6-0 loss to Atlanta on April 14.

"The big problem for me has been the long ball," Lieber said. "If I can start putting hitters away early, I'll be all right. I'm definitely approaching my low point (in the majors), but I'm not going to get down on myself and bury myself."

The first two Pittsburgh runs followed triples by Jason Kendall in the fourth and Tony Womack in the sixth and the Pirates now have more triples (11) than they do homers (10). Kevin Young hit a solo shot in the ninth, his second.

Jermaine Allensworth then singled, but was out trying to stretch it into a double, and Gardner finished the complete game by getting Jose Guillen on a ground out.

Notes: Hamilton left the game with a bruised toe in the seventh. ... All three Pirates batters in the fifth were retired on foul popups to first baseman Snow. ... The Giants are 9-1 when scoring four or more runs. ... Pirates pinch-hitter Mark Smith popped out in the fifth and now is 0-for-15 this season. ... Lieber has permitted at least one homer in every start. ... Many Pirates are slumping: Freddy Garcia is 2-for-23, Kevin Young is 5-for-32, Womack is 2-for-19 and Smith still hasn't had a hit since last season.