SAN FRANCISCO -- Barry Bonds homered in his seventh straight game, but the San Francisco Giants lost 9-5 to the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night.
Bonds is one shy of matching the major league record for consecutive games with a homer -- shared by Dale Long (1956), Don Mattingly (1987) and Ken Griffey Jr. (1993).
Bonds has homered in the past seven games in which he has had an at-bat. He had a pinch-hit walk Wednesday, which does not stop the streak under baseball's rules.
His ninth homer of the season, a two-run shot off Brian Lawrence, bounced into McCovey Cove and a fan dived over the railing and into the murky water to retrieve it. The homer pulled the Giants within 6-2 and was the 667th of his career. Pedro Feliz connected two batters later.
When Bonds stepped on home plate, the slugger did his traditional kiss of the hands and pointed at the sky. He then pointed right to new Oakland Raiders defensive tackle Warren Sapp, dressed in a Giants jacket and sitting only a few rows up, a little to the right of home plate.
Bonds homered in six straight games twice during the 2001 season when he set the season record of 73 homers. He did it from April 12-18 and again from May 17-22.
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