Bonds’ 597th Homer Helps Schmidt Cruise

Barry Bonds, who knows all about coming back to Pittsburgh to play before unfriendly fans, made it a lot easier for Jason Schmidt to get over his nervousness about facing his former team.

Bonds hit his 597th career homer and just missed another, leading Schmidt and the San Francisco Giants past the Pirates, 11-6, Saturday night.

“I wasn’t nervous at all before the game, but as soon as I stepped on the mound, my knees were shaking,” said Schmidt, who gave up seven hits and four runs in 7 1/3 innings. “It’s where I pitched for five years. But getting those runs helped get the nervousness out of the way.”

Bonds is still booed in Pittsburgh 10 years after leaving the team, but a sellout crowd was much warmer to Schmidt (7-5), who was traded to the Giants a little more than a year ago.

Bonds moved within three homers of becoming the fourth major leaguer with 600, powering Kip Wells’ full-count pitch deep into the right-field seats to put the Giants ahead, 5-0, in the second.

The drive was his 30th--and 103rd in two seasons--and extended his National League record to 11 consecutive seasons with 30 homers or more. Jimmie Foxx holds the major league mark of 12.

Bonds went two for three with four runs batted in before being lifted with the Giants ahead by eight runs in the seventh.

The Giants stayed one game behind the Dodgers in the wild-card race but fell seven behind Arizona in the NL West.

Atlanta 6, St. Louis 1--Chipper Jones hit two two-run homers and Jason Marquis pitched six strong innings at Atlanta, and the Braves won their fifth consecutive game.

The Cardinals lost their fourth in a row in the matchup of NL division leaders.

Jones is 13 for 23 with five homers and 13 runs batted in during the eight-game home stand.

Marquis (8-5) gave up five hits, twice ending threats by retiring cleanup hitter Jim Edmonds.

Florida 11, Milwaukee 7--Kevin Millar homered, doubled, singled and had four RBIs for the Marlins at Miami.

Andy Fox had three hits and drove in two runs in support of Brad Penny (5-4), who gave four runs and nine hits in six innings.

Houston 5, Montreal 3--Wade Miller won his sixth consecutive start and Craig Biggio hit a tiebreaking home run in the eighth at Montreal.

Miller (9-3), who went 5-0 in July, gave up three hits and three runs in seven innings.

Jeff Bagwell hit a three-run homer against Bartolo Colon in the third. Brad Wilkerson’s three-run homer against Miller in the fifth tied the score, 3-3.

Colorado 2, Chicago 1--Denny Neagle (5-7) gave up two hits in six innings in his first start since July 2, and Jay Payton had a two-run double at Chicago.

After giving up Fred McGriff’s 471st career home run in the second, Neagle retired the next 15 batters before leaving for a pinch-hitter in the seventh.

Cincinnati 4, San Diego 3--Russell Branyan hit a two-run homer, and the Reds took advantage of Brett Tomko’s wildness at San Diego.

Jimmy Haynes won his career-best fifth consecutive decision, and the Reds moved within three games of St. Louis in the NL Central.

Tomko gave up four hits in seven innings, but he walked four in the first inning--one with the bases loaded.