San Francisco – Barry Bonds’ temper tantrum, and the San Francisco Giants fans’ subsequent garbage-tossing, stole the spotlight from Rockies catcher Yorvit Torrealba on Friday night at AT&T Park.
Torrealba, the former Giant, hit a three-run homer in the sixth off Matt Morris, powering the Rockies to a 5-2 win.
But in the bottom of the ninth, Bonds was ejected in the middle of his at-bat against Rockies closer Brian Fuentes. Bonds was tossed for arguing balls and strikes with home-plate umpire Ron Kulpa.
As Bonds sat glowering in the dugout, the fans shouted “Barry! Barry!” and tossed trash on the field. Rockies manager Clint Hurdle called his team back to the dugout until order was restored after an 11-minute delay.
Bonds, who was ejected with the count 2-2, was replaced by Todd Greene, who popped out to center fielder Choo Freeman.
Before the chaos, Torrealba sent San Francisco a giant I-told-you-so message.
Torrealba spent nearly 11 seasons in the Giants’ organization, hoping to become their No. 1 catcher. It never happened. Now he’s making things happen for the Rockies, who moved within 2 1/2 games of San Diego in the NL West.
The Giants traded Torrealba to the Seattle Mariners last summer. He became a Rockie during last year’s winter meetings. Now he has become a run-producing machine. His three RBIs gave him 32 in 39 games.
And it wasn’t just Torrealba who chased away his Bay Area demons. So did Rockies starter Jeff Francis, who won for the first time in San Francisco after pitching eight innings, allowing six hits and two runs. Francis had made four starts at AT&T Park, going 0-3 with an 11.64 ERA.
Francis yielded two loud homers. The first came off the bat of Pedro Feliz in the third to give the Giants a 1-0 lead. In the seventh, Bonds crushed a ball to deep center to reach another milestone. His 723rd career homer, 15th this season, was the 1,377th extra-base hit of his career, tying him with St. Louis Cardinals’ Hall of Famer Stan Musial for second all-time. Henry Aaron holds the record with 1,477.
The Rockies’ first run came courtesy of a false step by Morris. Torrealba opened the inning with a double, moved to third on Brad Hawpe’s groundout, then scored when Morris balked.
Atkins still third
Garrett Atkins, who started 71 consecutive games before sitting out Wednesday’s game against Milwaukee, was back in the lineup and went 1-for-4 with a double in the No. 3 spot, where he’s thrived since replacing Todd Helton on July 22.
Manager Clint Hurdle has no plans to move Atkins, who’s hitting .370 (27-for-73) in his past 19 games to raise his average .317, even though Helton had a home run, double and three RBIs hitting third on Wednesday.
“I really believe we need to give Atkins every opportunity to roll with this,” Hurdle said. “As much respect that I have for Todd, we made this move for what we thought was best for the ballclub at the time. And right now, Atkins is the hottest hitter on the ballclub. Until that would change, I don’t see any reason to make a move in a different direction.”
Footnote
Shortstop Omar Quintanilla (right shin bruise) was activated from the disabled list and optioned to Triple-A Colorado Springs.
Staff writer Patrick Saunders can be reached at 303-820-5459 or psaunders@denverpost.com.
