Giants 7, Brewers 5

By ALAN ROBINSON
AP Sports Writer

MILWAUKEE (AP) Barry Bonds hit a long home run not exactly big news there. What must trouble the can't-win-for-losing Milwaukee Brewers is Bonds found a way to beat them without swinging his bat.

Bonds' solo homer wasn't the difference Friday as the Giants rallied to beat Milwaukee 7-5 in the Brewers' home opener. What decided it was yet another tough decision the game's most dangerous hitter forced a manager to make in the late innings.

With the score tied at 5 in the eighth following Jose Cruz Jr.'s homer off reliever Luis Vizcaino (0-1), Rich Aurilia singled to bring Bonds to the plate.

Most managers, including the Giants' Felipe Alou, wouldn't tell their pitcher to intentionally walk the batter. But, as Alou said, ``I don't have to worry about it because Barry Bonds plays for me.''

Ned Yost, in his fourth game as a major league manager and still looking for his first victory, was worrying about it a lot. Bonds already had a long homer to right-center, the 615th of his career, and a line-drive single.

``There's no way you're going to let Barry Bonds hit in that situation,'' Yost said. ``We tried to pitch around him all day and look what he did. We were going to walk him no matter what.''

So walk him he did, moving the go-ahead runner only 180 feet from home plate and a ball that barely traveled that distance got him in.

Edgardo Alfonzo walked to load the bases before Vizcaino struck out Benito Santiago for the second out. Yost then brought in left-hander Shane Nance to faced the left-handed J.T. Snow, who already had a two-run single.

Snow ran the count full before lining a ball to the left side. Shortstop Royce Clayton had it in his glove, only to have it bounce out, allowing Aurilia and Bonds to score without the ball leaving the infield.

``I can't tell you what happened. I jumped as high as I could and it hit me in the palm,'' Clayton said. ``I might have jumped higher than I had to. Just one of those weird things.''

Another happened to Clayton an inning later and, as usual for a team that has lost 110 of its last 166 games, it didn't benefit the Brewers. They are 0-4, a start that is beginning to resemble their season-dooming 2-9 of a year ago.

Clayton, batting with a runner on first against reliever Tim Worrell, grounded a ball that struck third base for an apparent single. But Alou came out of the dugout, protesting the ball struck Clayton's bat a second time as his momentum carried him toward third.

``All of us saw it,'' Alou said. ``I saw it, and I'm 67. We heard it, too. He hit it twice.''

Clayton confessed later the ball inadvertently struck his bat again, automatically making it a foul ball, but he was hoping the umpires would miss it.

No such luck and luck is something the Brewers simply don't have yet. Worrell quickly got the final two outs to extend the Giants bullpen's scoreless innings streak to 12 1-3 innings. Jim Brower (1-0) and Felix Rodriguez preceded the Giants' temporary closer Worrell has the job until Robb Nen gets back with a scoreless inning each.

The Giants are two wins away from matching their 6-0 start of a year ago, but they say it's much too early to consider this a sign of the season to come.

``It's the early stages of the season,'' Alou said. ``There's still a lot of stuff out of control.''

He might have been referring to Brewers starter Todd Ritchie, who walked four, hit two batters, threw two wild pitches and gave up Bonds' homer, yet still found a way to strand 10 runners in six innings.

The Brewers gave him four home runs worth of support as Richie Sexson, Jeffrey Hammonds and Wes Helms went deep within a span of four batters in the sixth and John Vander Wal homered in the second, all off Ryan Jensen. But all four were solo shots.

``It's no fun being 0-4,'' Yost said. ``But we're not going to roll over and die.'' ^Notes:@ Bonds is 4-for-8 with two homers against Ritchie, who hasn't won since July 2. He was 5-15 with the White Sox last season. ... The Giants are 6-1 against Milwaukee the last two seasons. ... The Brewers lost for only the second time in their last 10 home openers. ... There were numerous empty seats, but the crowd was announced as 42,570, a sellout. ... The game wouldn't have been played if Miller Park didn't have a roof. It was a rainy 34 degrees at the start, and the rain turned to sleet about the time the fans left.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)