Barry Bonds hit his record 760th home run and lifted the San Francisco Giants over the Florida Marlins 4-3 in the National League on Saturday. Bonds also struck out a season-high three times.
Ryan Klesko had two hits and scored twice for the Giants, and Matt Cain (5-13) struck out seven in seven innings for his second win in eight starts. Brad Hennessey gave up a leadoff double in the ninth before finishing for his 11th save.
Hanley Ramirez led off the game with his 23rd home run for the Marlins. Mike Jacobs added two RBIs, including his 11th homer.
PHOTO: AP
Bonds struck out in his first two appearances against Rick VandenHurk (3-4), who also served up No. 754 last month.
In the fifth, Bonds sent a fastball 444 feet over the right-center field wall, his 26th homer of the season. The crowd of 42,817 -- the largest for Florida at home since opening day 2005 -- stood to cheer and take photos.
Mets 7, Nationals 4
PHOTO: AP
At Washington, Luis Castillo homered for the first time in more than a year, David Wright hit a tiebreaking two-run double, and surging New York beat Washington.
Castillo and Wright drove in two runs apiece to back left-hander Oliver Perez (11-8), who won for the first time in four starts.
Perez allowed three runs and seven hits over 5 2-3 innings, walked three and struck out three. He is one win shy of matching his career high. Billy Wagner pitched the ninth for his 29th save in 31 chances.
PHOTO: AP
Castillo's first homer since July 16 last year, a span of 674 at-bats, was off left-hander John Lannan (1-2), who went 5 2-3 innings, allowing five runs and eight hits.
Cubs 5, Cardinals 3
At Chicago, Daryle Ward hit a grand slam, and Derrek Lee went 3-for-4 to help Chicago beat St Louis.
Sean Marshall (6-6) pitched five-plus innings for Chicago, which has won three straight after a four-game skid.
Albert Pujols, Juan Encarnacion and Brendan Ryan homered for the Cardinals, who dropped the first two games of the series after a five-game winning streak.
Marshall allowed two runs and five hits, and five relievers combined to finish. Ryan Dempster pitched a perfect ninth for his 19th save.
Chicago scored all of its runs with two outs in the third. Anthony Reyes (2-12) walked Aramis Ramirez and Ward smacked his third career grand slam, and first homer of the season.
Rockies 7, Dodgers 4
At Los Angeles, Matt Holliday singled home the go-ahead run in the 14th inning as Colorado prevailed over Los Angeles in a five-hour marathon.
The result left the Rockies and the Dodgers 2 games and 2 1-2 games respectively off the wildcard lead.
Colorado's Ryan Spilborghs, who entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the 11th, led off the 14th with a double against Roberto Hernandez (0-2) and advanced on a sacrifice bunt. Holliday lined a pitch to left field for the lead run.
Brad Hawpe added a two-run single to complete the scoring.
Matt Herges (2-0) worked two scoreless innings for the win and Manny Corpas got three outs for his 11th save in 13 attempts.
It was the longest game by innings for the Rockies this season.
In other National League action on Saturday it was:
* Pirates 11, Phillies 6
* Diamondbacks 12, Braves 6
* Brewers 8, Reds 4
Roger Clemens won in his return from suspension and Bobby Abreu hit a go-ahead homer carrying New York over Detroit 5-2 in the American League on Saturday.
The result saw the Tigers drops one and a half games behind AL Central leaders Cleveland.
Clemens gave up Cameron Maybin's first major league homer but pitched out of trouble for six innings, striking out eight to match his season high.
Jorge Posada hit a solo shot off Chad Durbin (7-6) in the second and finished with three hits for the Yankees, who took control by scoring four times in the sixth.
Mariano Rivera tossed a hitless ninth for his 20th save in 23 chances.
Clemens (5-5) gave up 10 hits, his most in a game in almost two years. He was working on 10 days' rest after serving a five-game suspension for hitting Toronto's Alex Rios with a pitch early this month.
In other Americasn League action on Saturday it was:
* Indians 8, Devil Rays 1
* Rangers 5, Twins 0
* Red Sox 10, Angels 5
* Mariners 7, White Sox 5
* Orioles 5, Blue Jays 3
* Royals 7, Athletics 3
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