Durham’s Home Run Beats A’s

SAN FRANCISCO — Ray Durham went to the plate intending to put down a sacrifice bunt. Instead, he put the ball into the seats.

Just another crazy ninth inning in the Bay Bridge Series -- and another come-from-behind win for the San Francisco Giants.

Durham hit a game-winning three-run home run onto the arcade atop the right-field wall, and the Giants overcame a five-run deficit for an 8-7 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Saturday.

Barry Bonds hit his 719th homer and a run-scoring double while reaching base five times, but Durham’s unlikely homer capped the Giants’ rally against closer Huston Street (1-3), who blew his fifth save.

Durham rolled his eyes skyward in thought when asked whether he remembered ending a game with a homer. He couldn’t come up with one: It was the veteran second baseman’s first walkoff shot in the majors.

“It was huge for me,” Durham said. “They walked Barry twice. My job is to protect him, to come through like I did. When I hit it, I thought it was off the wall, and it kind of kept going up. It was an overwhelming feeling.”

Bonds hadn’t homered since June 16 in Seattle, going 18 at-bats between homers. He was hitless in his previous three games, part of a one-for-nine slump to start the homestand.

Mark Sweeney led off the ninth with a single, and Bonds drew his third walk. Two pitches earlier, Durham failed to get down a bunt to move the runners into scoring position.

So he took out his frustrations on a hanging slider from Street, who was left with his own frustration when Durham’s high fly crept into the elevated stands in right.

“That situation is a tricky situation,” Street said. “I was trying to go after Barry, but I was just missing....I just didn’t do what I’d been doing, which is going after people.”

Tim Worrell (3-2) pitched the ninth for San Francisco.

For the second straight day, superiority in the San Francisco Bay’s mellow baseball rivalry was decided by a ninth-inning rally. Oakland scored two runs Friday in a 4-3 victory, but the Giants replied with their 16th come-from-behind win this season.

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CHASING AARON

Baseball’s all-time

home run leaders:

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Hank Aaron...755

Barry Bonds...719

Babe Ruth...714