Cardinals St. Louis scored two in the ninth but fell to the Giants 4-3

ST. LOUIS -- Barry Bonds hardly got a chance to move closer to Hank Aaron on Friday night.

Playing in one of baseball's most tradition-rich cities, Bonds grounded out, drew three walks and watched his teammates produce in the San Francisco Giants' 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. He remained at 751 homers, four shy of matching Aaron's record.

Noah Lowry (9-6) struck out five in six innings to win his third straight start, and Ray Durham hit an RBI single. Cardinals center fielder So Taguchi did the rest -- with a costly misplay that allowed three runs to score in the fifth and was still being debated afterward.

Bonds called it a night after a four-pitch walk from Troy Percival in the seventh, the slugger's 89th free pass of the season. Rookie Fred Lewis replaced him as a pinch-runner, then took Bonds' spot in left field in the bottom half.

The sellout crowd of 45,245 went after Bonds more times than the Cardinals' pitching staff, and made sure not to waste its final opportunity to boo as Bonds jogged off the field.

"I wanted to get him out of there," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "I know yesterday his hip bothered him a little bit. I wanted to get him off his legs. I hope he can play the next two."

Bonds hit his 751st home run in the first inning Tuesday night at Cincinnati, a two-run shot off Aaron Harang. He sat out Wednesday, then had a single Thursday as the Giants lost their series to the lowly Reds.

In his first three plate appearances Friday, all against St. Louis starter Mike Maroth (0-1), Bonds never saw a pitch clocked above 81 mph. Bonds' 10-game hitting streak ended, his longest since going 11 straight games with a hit from Aug. 2 to 19, 2003.

He offered a thumbs-up as he made his clubhouse exit, huge headphones over his ears.

Bonds walked with one out in the third, as the soft-tossing Maroth jammed him inside with offspeed pitches.

"I threw him a lot of pitches in and stayed pretty soft, threw a lot of slow stuff," Maroth said. "I ended up missing with a couple of pitches when I walked him. He laid off some pitches that were pretty good pitches."

With cameras flashing like lightning bugs from every corner of the ballpark on a pleasant night, Bonds walked on another 3-2 pitch in the fifth.

Durham had an RBI single in the first off Maroth, then the Giants added three more runs on Taguchi's error in center when he couldn't keep Bengie Molina's hard-hit ball in his glove on a tough play.

Molina and the Giants thought it was a hit.

"That's the first time I've seen a guy jump, hit the wall and it's an error," Molina said.

St. Louis loves its baseball history. This is where Mark McGwire tied and broke Roger Maris' single-season record of 61 and also hit No. 70 in 1998. Bonds went on to break McGwire's mark by hitting 73 homers in 2001.

Cardinals skipper Tony La Russa will manage Bonds on the NL All-Star team Tuesday night in San Francisco. The 42-year-old Bonds is set to start in the outfield.

"Every time up there, he had at least a strike," La Russa said.