Bonds closes on Aaron record
SAN FRANCISCO: Barry Bonds hit his 745th career home run on Tuesday to move to within 11 of becoming baseball's all-time home run leader.
The Giants slugger, who now needs 10 homers to tie Hank Aaron's legendary mark, hit his 11th homer of the season in the fourth inning of the game against the New York Mets.
San Francisco was trailing 4-0 when Bonds hit his fourth career home run against future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine. The shot to right-centerfield came with no-one on base.
The RBI was the 23rd of the season for Bonds, who lifted his batting average to .342 with the home run. It came on Bonds' 76th at-bat, a furious pace for the 42-year-old left field.
The home run was the 38th of Bonds' career against the Mets, who eventually won 4-1.
Mets' Tom Glavine earned his 294th win. Teammate Jose Reyes of the Mets doubled and tripled in his first two at-bats, extending hit hitting streak to 13 games.
Seventh straight
In Toronto, undefeated Josh Beckett won his seventh straight start as the Boston Red Sox hit four home runs in a 9-2 pounding of the Blue Jays on Tuesday.
Beckett, who is one short of the club record for consecutive wins at the start of a season, gave up a home run on the first pitch he threw in the game but that was the only run he allowed in seven innings.
"He settled in," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said after the game. "He pitched the way he's been pitching and that's a credit to his maturity. He came right back and was as effective as he's been all year."
The Red Sox have scored 55 runs in Beckett's seven starts, almost eight per game. But Beckett has more than done his part, running up a nifty 2.57 ERA.
He is the first Red Sox pitcher in 34 years to win his first seven starts of a season, with Babe Ruth one of three Boston hurlers to start a season with victories in their first eight starts.
Rookie Dustin Pedroia and veteran Mike Lowell hit three-run homers and Kevin Youkilis and Jason Varitek belted solo shots for the Red Sox, who have won five of their last six games.
The battered Blue Jays, on the other hand, have lost seven straight games.
Agencies
(China Daily 05/10/2007 page24)
