Bonds Hits 749th HR in Loss to Yankees

Jun 23, 03:15 AM

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San Francisco, CA (Sports Network) - Alex Rodriguez went 4-for-4 with two RBI, helping the New York Yankees down the Giants, 7-3, on a night Barry Bonds inched closer to Hank Aaron's home run record.

Bonds hit career home run No. 749, and now sits just six shy of Aaron's mark. After an extended at-bat and with the count full leading off the eighth inning, Bonds turned on a Scott Proctor fastball and deposited it over the wall in right-center to bring his club within 6-3.

Bonds has homered off 442 pitchers in his career, but his shot was as close as the Giants would get in the opener of the three-game set at AT&T Park.

Melky Cabrera knocked in a pair for the Yankees, who were coming off a sweep at the hands of the Rockies. Derek Jeter extended his hit streak to 16 games with a 2-for-4 performance.

Kei Igawa allowed two runs on five hits over 4 2/3 innings in his return to the major leagues. After bidding $26 million to negotiate with Igawa, then signing him to a five-year $20 million contract, the Yankees were bitterly disappointed with the results from their Japanese import. Igawa was 2-1 with a 7.63 ERA in six games (five starts) before they shipped him to Single-A Tampa on May 7.

While Igawa got a no-decision in his return, Luis Vizcaino (4-1) picked up the win and Mariano Rivera worked the final 1 2/3 innings for his ninth save of the season.

"He was consistent for four innings and that's darn near half the game," Yankees manager Joe Torre said of Igawa "If he could do that for four innings as I say, he may have looked at the scoreboard and you see it's going to be an official game in a minute and he may have just rushed himself."

Matt Cain (2-8) continued his struggles, allowing five runs in five innings for San Francisco, which has lost eight in a row.

"I don't think anybody is thinking as much about Barry's milestone as much as trying to win a ballgame, that's our focus right now," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "We need to stop this and we know it. When Barry gets there it's going to be a huge moment, but that's not the focus here, Barry will say that too. Right now our starters have been struggling a little bit, but they will get back on track and we've got to start getting runs on the board."

New York opened the scoring with a three-run second. Rodriguez led off with a double, moved to third on Jorge Posada's groundout, then came in courtesy of Hideki Matsui's sacrifice fly.

The Yankees went on to load the bases before Cabrera hit a single to left that plated both Robinson Cano and Miguel Cairo.

Bobby Abreu made it 4-0 with a double to center in the fifth that scored Jeter, and was knocked in immediately by Rodriguez's base hit to stretch the lead even further.

The Giants cut into the lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth. Omar Vizquel ended the shutout with an RBI single and Bonds drew a bases- loaded walk later in the frame to make it 5-2. Vizcaino though replaced Igawa and got Bengie Molina to fly out to end the inning.

Jeter's run-scoring single in the sixth, though, pushed the lead to four runs.

After Bonds' homer, Rodriguez plated Jeter with a single in the ninth to cap the scoring.

Game Notes

Cain is winless in his last seven starts...Bonds' homer was his 15th on the year...This was the Yankees' first visit to San Francisco since the 1962 World Series...The eight-game losing streak is the longest since a nine-game spell from July 23-August 1 of 2006 for San Francisco...Torre tied Leo Durocher for ninth place all-time with 2,009 career victories.

06/23 03:01:35 ET