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  Monday, Sep. 4 4:05pm ET
Bonds tops 40-HR mark for fourth time
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Barry Bonds keeps adding to his impressive power numbers. Then again, he keeps working at it, too.

Bonds homered twice to top 40 for the fourth time in his career as the San Francisco Giants defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 3-0 Monday for their sixth straight victory.

Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds watches the first of his two home runs Monday clear the center-field fence in Pac Bell Park.

"He spent about an hour doing extra hitting before the game and it paid off," Giants manager Dusty Baker said. "September is Barry's month. His physical strength is the difference. He's in shape."

Bonds hit solo shots in the third inning off Omar Daal (3-17) and in the eighth off Jeff Brantley to give him 41 homers on the year. Bonds has 45 career multihomer games, 10th on the career list.

"It's nice, but there's a long way to go and I really don't want to talk about it," Bonds said.

Russ Ortiz (12-10) allowed two hits, four walks and struck out five in 6 1/3 innings to win his seventh consecutive decision. The right-hander extended his scoreless streak to 17 innings, dating to the second inning Aug. 25 at Philadelphia. He hasn't lost since July 29 at Chicago.

"I'm confident in my ability and I never lost that," Ortiz said. "We're scoring enough runs and playing some defense and I'm just doing my job."

Robb Nen got three outs for his 34th save in 39 opportunities. He has converted 21 straight save chances, tied with Toronto's Billy Koch for the longest in the majors this season.

San Francisco has a major league-leading 13 shutouts, the most for the Giants since having 16 in 1989.

The Giants lead idle Arizona by a season-high 5½ games in the NL West.

"There's still a lot of time left and we're not taking anything for granted," Bonds said. "It seems all our starters are locked in and we're comfortable at home. When things aren't going well, we come home and get it straightened out."

The Phillies matched their season high with six consecutive losses.

"When you're not scoring, everything becomes glaring," Phillies manager Terry Francona said. "Our whole team is trying to do too much. We're trying to hit the ball 500 feet, when 330 is good enough."

Daal threw his third consecutive quality game, but still managed to lose his fifth straight decision, giving up solo homers to Bonds and Rich Aurilia.

"He pitched real good, but we're going through a period where you have to be perfect and it's hard to be perfect," Francona said. "I'd like to think if you only give up two runs we have a chance to win."

Daal pitched six innings, allowing three hits but none after Bonds gave the Giants a 2-0 lead with one out in the third. He walked five and struck out five.

"It's been tough, but that's the way it is," Daal said. "Today when I gave up the second run I thought I was in big trouble because Russ was pitching a good game."

Daal has allowed seven earned runs in his last 19 innings (3.32 ERA) to lower his ERA to 6.67 from a season high 7.19 on Aug. 19. He's won once in 14 starts since May 30.

Aurilia led off the second with his 17th homer, hitting a 1-1 pitch from Daal into the left-field bleachers.

Ortiz walked the bases loaded with two outs in the sixth, but struck out Pat Burrell to end the threat.

Marlon Anderson walked to open the seventh and Tomas Perez singled with one out, but Alan Embree replaced Ortiz and struck out pinch-hitter Brian Hunter and got Bobby Abreu to fly out.

Game notes
Bonds last hit 40 homers in 1997. ... Ortiz does not have a complete-game shutout in 73 career starts. ... Giants 1B J.T. Snow did not start consecutive games for the first time this season. ... Abreu has 14 walks and five stolen bases in 15 games as the leadoff hitter. ... The Phillies have scored one earned run in their last 41 innings. ... Aurilia leads NL shortstops with his 17 homers.
 


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AUDIO/VIDEO
video
 Rich Aurilia talks with ESPN's Jon Miller and Joe Morgan after the game.
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