He drew a key walk instead of hitting a big homer, played a supporting role instead of winning the game by himself.
Either way, there’s no denying Barry Bonds makes a difference for the San Francisco Giants.
Bonds had his streak of four straight games with a homer stopped Friday night, but he drew a walk in San Francisco’s rally from four runs down in the eighth inning for a 7-6 victory over the Rockies at Coors Field.
“I guess he has been very important,” Giants manager Felipe Alou said. “It’s important to have him walk. We usually have big innings when they walk Barry.”
The Giants (72-81) improved to 7-1 with Bonds in the starting lineup and pulled within 4 1/2 games of the first-place San Diego Padres in the NL West. San Diego, which entered the day with a magic number of six, defeated Arizona on Friday.
Bonds finished with two singles, a walk and an RBI. The unintentional four-pitch walk came off Mike DeJean (5-4) with the Giants trailing by four and two on.
Moises Alou followed with a two-run double to make it 6-4. Ray Durham, hitless in his previous 23 at-bats, followed that with a two-run single to tie it at 6 and, after Durham advanced on a wild pitch, pinch-hitter J.T. Snow singled in the go-ahead run to complete the five-run inning.
It was Snow’s first appearance since Sept. 12. He had missed time with a strained hamstring.
“J.T. Snow got a clutch hit to win the game. Our bullpen did a great job,” Bonds said in answering the only question he fielded after the game.
Jeremy Accardo (1-4) pitched the seventh to pick up the win.
Tyler Walker came in with one on in the ninth and recorded the final two outs for his 23rd save. Shortstop Omar Vizquel made a diving stop of a sharply hit ball by Clint Barmes to get the Giants out of the eighth inning with a runner on first.
