Royals 3, Giants 0

By DOUG TUCKER
AP Sports Writer

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) The nearly 32,000 fans who packed Kauffman Stadium for Barry Bonds' first game in Kansas City got to see home runs.

But not by Bonds.

The Kansas City Royals beat the San Francisco Giants 6-1 Friday night on home runs by Joe Randa, Michael Tucker and Desi Relaford.

Bonds, who had homered in four straight games, was 2-for-4 with two singles and a pair of strikeouts.

``The good guys hit them for a change,'' said Relaford, whose two-run shot in the eighth off Scott Eyre capped the scoring and helped Chris George win for the third time in his last four decisions. ``I think the fans would have liked to see Barry go deep. But they'll take a win for the home team.''

Randa homered off Jason Schmidt (5-3) leading off the fourth inning on the night he set the team record by playing his 70th straight game at third base without an error. Tucker hit a two-run homer off Schmidt later in the fourth.

``Randa hit a pretty good fastball down,'' Giants manager Felipe Alou said. ``The two-run homer by Tucker was a high change. It was not a good pitch. Not bringing the runners around caught up with us tonight.''

The Giants, still fighting a flu bug that went through the team the past week, stranded 13 runners.

``They looked a little tired,'' Alou said. ``That's tough. But still they're fighting out there.''

George (7-4) was relieved after striking out Bonds for the first out of the seventh.

``That was nice,'' he said. ``I hadn't thrown him a cutter all night. I saved it for when I needed it and it worked out nicely.''

George gave up 10 hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Jose Cruz Jr. hit a solo homer in the sixth, the second night in a row he'd gone deep.

``I felt great,'' George said. ``I felt like I was locating my fastball much better than I have been. My goal was to keep the ball in the ballpark. They got a lot of base hits. But as long as they're singles and not home runs, we're in the game.''

The crowd of 31,426, the Royals' fifth-largest of the year, did see Bonds reach base for the 35th straight game the longest current streak in the majors.

``Any time you have Barry Bonds in the ballpark, there's a good chance you're going to see home runs,'' Tucker said. ``But fortunately they came on our side, not on their side.''

Schmidt went six innings, giving up seven hits and four runs, with three walks and four strikeouts.

``I might DH Barry tomorrow,'' Alou said. ``He's one of the few guys who right now is healthier.''< ^Notes:@ Pedro Feliz played first base for the Giants for just the second time in his career. ... Bonds' intentional walk in the first was his NL-leading 28th. ... Right fielder Cruz made a nifty play on Randa's foul pop in the first inning, running almost full speed for a one-handed catch just in front of the wall. ... San Francisco's Ray Durham stretched his hitting streak to 15 games.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)