HOUSTON – Barry Bonds rode out of Minute Maid Park on Wednesday night on an electric cart overloaded with his entourage.
His fearsome bat looks just as weighed down.
Bonds has a tight hamstring and a homerless streak of six games and 17 at-bats, which affects more than his pursuit of Hank Aaron’s all-time home run record. The Giants offense barely put up a fight against unheralded Chris Sampson and three relievers in a 2-1 loss to the Houston Astros.
Noah Lowry, who might be the Giants’ most consistent pitcher this season, lost despite notching his fourth career complete game. He yielded eight hits, four of them to Hunter Pence. The gangly rookie hasn’t been retired in the series; he’s 7 for 7 with a walk, and can tie the club record for consecutive hits if he connects in his first trip today.
Pence crushed a tiebreaking, solo home run in the fourth inning, but Lowry was hesitant to praise the young hitter.
“I don’t think necessarily that Pence beat me,” Lowry said. “We just didn’t have a lot of opportunities off their staff. But you’ve got to give the kid credit. He did get four hits. That’s all I’ll give him.”
The Giants didn’t get their leadoff hitter aboard in any inning and didn’t score after Ryan Klesko’s double brought home Fred Lewis in the first inning. They’ve shown they can win without Bonds – they’re 2-3 when he doesn’t start – but their offense has looked flat on days they get no contribution from their 42-year-old cleanup hitter.
“As great as he is, we all go through our ups and downs,” Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said. “Obviously he’s not locked in right now. It’s not the first time Barry’s gone through a little skid, but he’ll come out of it. We’re definitely a club that feeds off Barry.”
The Giants could use a more balanced diet. Bonds has hit 11 of their 32 home runs.
“He’s not going to hit a home run or get three hits every game,” said Randy Winn, who was 2 for 4 to extend a career-best 15-game hitting streak. “I’ve said it before: We’ll have to have a balanced lineup if we’re going to win. We don’t need one guy to carry us. It’s a matter of getting guys on base however that is – hits, bunts, walks.”
Bonds said his hamstring tightened up Tuesday as he ran down the line on a double-play grounder in the first inning. He had a chance to beat it out but didn’t want to take any chances.
Bonds said his legs felt better Wednesday, when he was 1 for 3 with a single, a walk and a strikeout. He’s 2 for 14 on this trip.
The Aaron projections keep moving closer to the All-Star break. Bonds is now on pace to tie the record of 755 on June 25 against the San Diego Padres and break it four days later at home against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Bonds will return to the lineup today, when the Giants must win to avoid a three-game sweep; the Astros already have clinched their first home series victory over the Giants since 1999, the last year they played in the Astrodome.
Lowry, who hasn’t allowed more than four earned runs in a game, will make his next start at home against the Astros, and Pence.
“Now I’ve got a better idea how to pitch him,” Lowry said. “But I’m not going to tell you guys.”
Contact Andrew Baggarly at abaggarly@mercurynews.com
