BALTIMORE -- Sidney Ponson wanted an opportunity to pitch to Barry Bonds, and the Baltimore Orioles' right-hander got his wish.
It was no coincidence Ponson also lost his fifth straight start.
Bonds hit his 676th homer and drove in three runs, leading the San Francisco Giants to a 7-3 victory Sunday.
Ponson, who pitched for the Giants last season, was looking forward to the challenge of facing Bonds, who ranks third on the career home run list.
On Friday, Ponson said, "I'm going after him, and hopefully good things will happen."
He should have known better. After lifting an opposite-field fly to the warning track in the first inning, Bonds hit a two-run shot off Ponson in the third, took an intentional walk in the fifth and singled in a run in the sixth to make it 4-2.
This was one confrontation that Bonds relished. And won.
"Sidney is like that, man," Bonds said. "He doesn't back down to anybody. He says he's going to come after you, that's what he's going to do. He didn't mess around. He didn't throw a curveball. Here it is."
Advantage, Bonds.
"He won the first one, I won the second and third," the slugger said.
Bonds' home run gave him 500 with San Francisco, making the Giants' franchise the first in baseball history to have three players hit 500 with the club. Willie Mays had 646 and Mel Ott hit 511.
"That's nice," Bonds said.
So was getting the opportunity to swing the bat. He received his 48th intentional walk, but also got four chances to hit.
"You don't see that. Actually, you never see that," winning pitcher Jerome Williams said. "In the National League, we see him getting walked every time. It's kind of weird."
Pedro Feliz had three hits for the Giants, who took two of three to win their sixth series in the last eight.
Williams (6-4) allowed three runs and six hits in 7 1/3 innings for San Francisco. It wasn't a gem; he issued a season-high four walks, hit three batters with pitches and yielded solo homers to Javy Lopez and B.J. Surhoff.
"I wasn't really comfortable. Everything was flat," he said.
Tyler Walker got four outs for his first major league save.
Ponson (3-8) gave up a career-high 13 hits and six runs in 6 2/3 innings, remaining winless since May 16. Bonds was a big reason why.
"He hits home runs against the best pitchers in the game," Ponson said. "The guy doesn't have 676 homers by mistake. That single, the ball was six inches off the plate. No other hitter would have done that."
Ponson wasn't the only culprit in the Orioles' eighth loss in 11 games. Jerry Hairston got picked off first base and the fielding was shoddy enough to cause manager Lee Mazzilli to hold a closed-door session with the players.
The Giants trailed 1-0 when Bonds stepped to the plate with a runner on third and two outs in the third inning. Instead of issuing an intentional walk -- a ploy Baltimore implemented four times in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader -- Mazzilli let Ponson pitch to Bonds.
"It was early in the game. We went for it," Mazzilli said.
Bonds promptly slammed the first pitch over the right-field scoreboard to put the Giants up 2-1.
Lopez tied it in the fourth with an opposite-field homer to right, the first allowed by Williams in his last five starts.
The Giants went ahead for good in the sixth. After Feliz drove in a run with an infield hit, Bonds came to the plate with runners on first and second with two outs and delivered an RBI single.
Surhoff homered in the bottom half to make it 4-3, and the Giants chased Ponson in the seventh when Cody Ransom hit an RBI single and scored on a triple by Michael Tucker.
Todd Linden hit a run-scoring grounder in the ninth.
Notes
- Orioles backup 3B Luis Lopez had a throwing error and got off a poor throw on Ransom's single in the seventh.
- San Francisco finished its season-long road trip 7-7.
- Baltimore RF Jay Gibbons (back injury) went 0-for-3 in a rehab assignment with Double-A Bowie and said he was ready to come off the 15-day disabled list.
- Williams has hit 13 batters in 13 starts.
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