Game 2 of the APBA I-5 Series is once again the Barry Bonds show

Houston Mitchell
·2 min read
San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds, who hit a record 73 home runs in 2001 during baseball's steroid era, was a key figure in the BALCO scandal involving the alleged use of banned, performance-enhancing drugs.
Barry Bonds (Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)

Barry Bonds is unstoppable, following his two-homer day in Game 1 with another two-homer day in Game 2 of the APBA best-of-seven I-5 series, leading Northern California to a 5-2 victory and a 2-0 series lead over Southern California.

Bonds hit a solo homer off of Walter Johnson in the first inning and a three-run shot in the seventh as he again provided most of the offense for his team.

The I-5 Series is played on the APBA game engine. The 34-man rosters were chosen by fans via latimes.com/sports and sfchronicle.com/sports. More than 100,000 votes were cast. The SoCal starting lineup for Game 2 was chosen by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. The NorCal team was managed by Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle and the SoCal team by Houston Mitchell of The Times.

After Bonds homered in the first, SoCal evened the score on George Brett's home run off Tom Seaver in the fifth, foiling his shutout and no-hit bid all with one swing. SoCal then took its first lead of the series in the sixth when Ted Williams hit his first home run of the series for a 2-1 advantage.

NorCal's Frank Robinson homered to tie the score in the sixth, setting the stage for Bonds in the seventh.

Ernie Lombardi doubled to lead off the seventh for NorCal, and Rickey Henderson walked. SoCal stayed with Johnson and Bonds homered on the first pitch, putting the game away.

Seaver pitched a complete game, giving up only three hits. Besides the two homers, he gave up a harmless single to Tony Gwynn.

Game 3 will be played Thursday at Dodger Stadium, with Game 4 Friday at Angel Stadium and, if necessary, Game 5 at Petco Park. Games 6 and 7, if needed, would be played at the Oakland Coliseum on Sunday and at Oracle Park on Monday.

“We're down 2-0, but pitching coach Red Adams believes he saw something in Bonds' swing our pitchers can take advantage of," Mitchell said. "I read social media and see the fans are mad at me. But be patient. We're still in this."