SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Barry Bonds played, which was nice for San Francisco. The rest of his teammates produced, which was even better for the Giants.
Bonds drew a leadoff walk to spark a six-run seventh inning Friday night that carried the Giants to a 6-5 win over the Montreal Expos.
Bonds played despite a sore back that kept him out of the past two games. He said he wanted the fans in San Juan -- where the Expos play 22 of their home games -- to get a chance to see him in action.
"It's a tough situation," Bonds said before the game. "But I'm going to put a couple back braces on and see what happens."
He played the entire nine innings, but it turned out that most of his best stuff came before the game, when he hammered balls over the fence in batting practice, then took time to sign autographs just a few minutes before the first pitch.
Once the game started, he went 1-for-3 with a walk and never got the ball out of the infield. His only hit was a squibber that he beat out for an infield single.
Still, he was the show at Hiram Bithorn Stadium, where a crowd of 14,325 came out to watch him play, oohing and ahhing at every swing, and lustily booing plate umpire Rob Drake when he called Bonds out on strikes in the second.
With San Francisco trailing 3-0, Bonds' walk against Livan Hernandez (3-3) started the Giants' big rally. After San Francisco chased Hernandez, then closed within a run, Edgardo Alfonzo had a two-out, two-run single and Marquis Grissom followed with a two-run double.
"I wouldn't say it gave us a lift," Grissom said of Hernandez's departure. "Just some different scenery."
San Francisco batted around, with Bonds hitting a hard groundout to end the inning.
It marked the first time the Giants have scored six runs in a game since May 9. Their last six-run inning? "Um, that would be tonight," Alfonzo said.
Wayne Franklin (1-0) threw just three pitches for the win, retiring one batter in relief of Brett Tomko. Scott Eyre got out of a jam with two on and one out in the eighth, and Matt Herges pitched the ninth for his 12th save in 14 chances.
The big inning may have been just the kind of thing the Giants needed. They have largely failed to produce anyone to hit behind Bonds, and that's one reason he has 29 intentional walks and is on pace to shatter the record of 68 -- which he set in 2002.
Batting behind Bonds on Friday, Pedro Feliz went 1-for-4, including a single that came after the leadoff walk in the seventh. No. 8 hitter Neifi Perez, who had a game-winning homer Thursday, went 2-for-4.
The Giants, who won for the third time in four games, agreed it was key to get Hernandez out of the game.
"When you get a guy on the ropes, you've got to capitalize on the mistakes," Grissom said.
Hernandez looked to be in control, and even though manager Frank Robinson pulled him with a 3-1 lead and the bases loaded in the seventh, nobody had hit the ball real hard.
"Everything was fine until the leadoff walk," Robinson said. "We gave him three runs and he started to be picky. It started a whole avalanche of things."
Hernandez walked slowly to the dugout, taking about 60 seconds for what usually is a 10-second walk from the mound.
"I wasn't feeling tired," he said.
As soon as he left, things got worse. Reliever Luis Ayala promptly hit Jeffrey Hammonds, forcing in a run to make it 3-2. One out later came the big hits by Alfonzo and Grissom.
Notes
Montreal's Jose Vidro went 0-for-5 and is in a 2-for-30 slump. He grounded into a double play with a man on and no outs in the ninth. ... Hernandez has worked into the seventh inning in all 10 starts this season. ... Hernandez and Tomko both had hits.
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