| MILWAUKEE -- Barry Bonds is back, but his back isn't done
hurting.
Bonds returned to the San Francisco Giants' lineup Friday night
after missing three games with a back injury. He hit a two-run
homer and drove in three runs, but left the game in the sixth
inning after his back tightened up again.
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| Bonds |
Bonds didn't speak to reporters, but San Francisco manager Dusty
Baker said he expected the slugger to play Saturday in the
penultimate game of the Giants' disastrous nine-game road trip.
"He gave us all he could give us. He said he'd had enough,"
Baker said.
San Francisco is 0-7 on the trip after falling 11-10 to
Milwaukee in 10 innings on Friday night. The Giants are 1-6 this
season without Bonds in the lineup.
Bonds, batting in his customary No. 3 spot, had a sacrifice fly
that scored Marvin Benard in the first inning. After walking in the
second, he hit a 405-foot two-run homer to deepest center-field off
Brewers starter Jimmy Haynes.
After Bonds struck out looking in the sixth, Baker removed him
from the game. Bonds' back had begun tightening up in the outfield
during the fifth inning.
"He stretched it out between the fourth and the fifth
(innings), but we knew that at-bat would be his last," Baker said.
Bonds, who began the week leading the NL in homers, was carted
off the field in Colorado last Saturday.
Baker said he found it "mind-boggling" that Bonds was able to
play just six days after the left-fielder collapsed in agony along
the first-base line at Coors Field. He was removed on a maintenance
cart, and he returned to the Bay Area while the Braves were swept
in three games with Atlanta earlier this week.
The eight-time All-Star first felt the pain in the early innings
of last Saturday's game. Afterward, he said the pain was so severe
that he thought he would miss the rest of the season.
"He says he's ready, so we're going to put him out there,"
Baker said. "He's moving all right and swinging the bat without
limitations, and those are the biggest things."
Giants head trainer Stan Conte had predicted 2-3 weeks of
rehabilitation for Bonds shortly after the injury, and Conte warned
that such injuries can recur quickly. Bonds arrived in Milwaukee on
Thursday night.
Bonds passed Arizona's Steve Finley for second place in the NL
with 16 homers. | |
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