Bonds equals NL record
San Franciso Giants slugger Barry Bonds closed in on Hank Aaron’s major league home run record when he equaled the former Atlanta Braves player’s National League home run record on Friday.
Ironically, his feat was achieved despite his side’s 13-12 loss to one of Aaron’s former side the Milwaukee Brewers.
Bonds’ blast in the sixth inning was the NL record-tying 733rd career homerun, although the former Pittsburgh Pirate sits 22 homers behind Aaron’s all-time major league record of 755, 22 of which came in the American League.
Bonds finished 3-for-5 with a season-high six RBI.
The seven-time NL Most Valuable Player had a two-run double in the first inning and an RBI two-base hit in the fifth to pass Rafael Palmeiro for 14th place on the all-time doubles list.
His sixth-inning effort gave him a stunning 17 seasons with 25 homers and made pitcher Chris Spurling the 433rd victim of his illustrious career.
But the Brewers rallied in the bottom half, tying the game on a two-out RBI single by Bill Hall against Vinnie Chulk.
Later in the inning with the bases loaded, David Bell hit a grounder to the right of shortstop Omar Vizquel, whose throw to second came just barely after a hustling Jeff Cirillo slid in safely.
San Francisco lost for the seventh time in nine games to fall five games off the wild card pace.