Ward's homer lifts Bucs past Giants, 4-2

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Daryle Ward is becoming a bit philosophical as his at-bats get better.
Ward tied the game with a two-run homer, then singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates past the San Francisco Giants 4-2 on Friday night.
Ward was reassigned to the minors in spring training and initially said he wouldn't report, but later changed his mind. He was called up last week when Pittsburgh placed Raul Mondesi on the restricted list.
On Thursday at Coors Field, Ward hit his first homer since 2002.
"It's like being born again, and that's a good thing," he said. "Getting sent down was a wake-up call for me. Hopefully, I'm proving some people right."
Ward connected for his second homer in two days in the seventh following a triple to right by Jack Wilson. In the eighth, Ward lined a single to left off Felix Rodriguez (1-3), scoring Abraham Nunez.
"That's what I've been asked to do: Pick up my game and my energy," Ward said.
Another shot
Rob Mackowiak homered for the Pirates leading off the ninth.
Brian Boehringer (1-1) pitched the seventh for the win, and Jose Mesa worked the ninth for his 10th save.
Deivi Cruz and Marquis Grissom each drove in a run for San Francisco, which played without Barry Bonds, who was removed from the lineup because of back spasms.
Bonds, who missed nearly a week with back spasms during spring training, hurt his back during batting practice.
"We worked on it for a while but it didn't make any difference," trainer Stan Conte said. "He left for home in the first inning. I hope it will go away as quick as it did in spring training. I think it's going to be more than a day or two."
San Francisco starter Dustin Hermanson ran into trouble in the seventh.
"I made one mistake tonight -- left a changeup up -- otherwise I felt great. My mechanics were great," Hermanson said. "I'm just not getting away with many mistakes these days."
After allowing a leadoff single to Jason Kendall in the first, Hermanson retired the next 14 batters, including five straight on groundouts during one stretch.
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