Emotional Bonds lifts Giants to win

The San Francisco slugger rescued his team from its longest losing streak in three years.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- For a few moments, Barry Bonds was a baseball player again instead of a grieving son.
With the crowd on their feet chanting his name, he came to the plate with the game on the line and delivered.
Bonds hit his 651st home run leading off the 10th inning as the San Francisco Giants snapped their longest losing streak in three years with a 5-4 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night.
"I know it's great for Barry," Giants manager Felipe Alou said. "But for these guys, his teammates, and for all of us, it's something uplifting. We needed it to keep us together."
No. 38
In his first game back since taking off the weekend series in Montreal to be with his ailing father Bobby, Bonds hit his major league-leading 38th homer on a 2-1 pitch from Ray King (3-2), giving the Giants their first win in seven games.
"I threw a pitch I left up to a great hitter and he, like, hit it," King said. "I'm not going to put him on a pedestal, but he's a good hitter who hit a difficult pitch."
Bonds raised both arms in celebration and pumped his fist as he started his slow trot and watched his drive sail over the concourse in right and into McCovey Cove.
"I just got a lot of emotions going for me and my dad," Bonds said before he quickly left Pacific Bell Stadium.
"Barry is so great you come to expect stuff like that," said Giants pitcher Tim Worrell (4-3), who worked two scoreless innings to record the victory. "It's amazing his ability to focus with all he's been through."
It was Bonds' eighth career game-winning home run, sixth with the Giants.
"He's going to hit 700 home runs, but the way we were going there were none bigger than that," Alou said. "It was an incredible feeling. To come out without any practice in almost a week and to end the game like that, I mean that's something."
Jose Cruz, Jr. also homered for the Giants.
All tied up
Pinch-runner Todd Linden scored on a wild pitch with two outs from Trey Hodges in the eighth inning to tie the score at 4.
Bonds, who received a standing ovation from the crowd of 42,307 in his first at bat, went 1-for-3 with two walks in his return to the Giants. Bobby Bonds has lung cancer and other ailments.
"It was important for me to be there with my dad," Bonds said before the game. "It's also important for me to be here too."
Javy Lopez, Gary Sheffield and Marcus Giles all homered for the Braves, who lost for just the second time in seven games.
Braves starter Russ Ortiz, who spent the first five years of his career with the Giants, allowed three runs on six hits over seven innings. He walked five and struck out four.
Giants starter Jerome Williams gave up four runs on six hits over 62/3 innings. He walked one and struck out three.
Neifi Perez and Marquis Grissom also drove in runs for the Giants.
Sheffield led off the fourth with his 32nd homer of the year, extending his career-high hitting streak to 23 games.
Lopez connected on a 2-1 pitch for his 34th homer of the season, matching his career high first established in 1998.
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