Bonds keeps on record pace

Bonds: reached 45 homers in a season in record time

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Barry Bonds hit his 45th home run of the season to keep on pace to break Mark McGwire's record of 70 homers in a season.

The homer helped the San Francisco Giants to a 9-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The hit came after Bonds had played down his chances of surpassing McGwire's mark.

He said: "I just know it's not realistic, I've slumped off a little bit, and I don't want to be considered just a power hitter.

"There's a little bit more to my game than just home runs."

Elsewhere in the NL, Greg Maddux won his 10th straight decision and extended his streak without a walk to 58 1/3 innings, as the Atlanta Braves defeated the Montreal Expos 7-3.

Maddux (14-5) joined Arizona's Curt Schilling and the Yankees' Roger Clemens as the majors' top winners.

The Braves moved one game ahead of Philadelphia in the NL East as the Phillies lost 6-1 to the New York Mets, for whom catcher Mike Piazza homered twice.

The Los Angeles Dodgers moved past Arizona for sole possession of the NL West lead for the first time since 20 May.

Shawn Green hit a three-run homer and converted reliever Terry Adams (7-3) won his third straight start as the Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies.

The Chicago Cubs moved four games ahead in the NL Central with a 4-3 victory over the St Louis Cardinals.

American League

The Boston Red Sox kept up their pursuit of the New York Yankees in the AL East with a 9-5 win over the Chicago White Sox.

Bret Saberhagen, pitching in the major leagues for the first time in almost 22 months, allowed three hits in six innings.

But the Yankees continued their impressive form with a 9-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Alfonso Soriano drove in four runs, and Paul O'Neill went four-for-five.

The Cleveland Indians moved into the outright lead in the AL Central with a 7-4 win over the Detroit Tigers, as Bartolo Colon won his fourth straight start and Jim Thome hit his AL-leading 33rd homer

The Minnesota Twins slumped to a 11-4 defeat to the Seattle Mariners.

Paul Abbott won his career-high ninth straight decision as Ichiro Suzuki, Bret Boone, John Olerud and Stan Javier all homered as Seattle beat the Twins for the sixth straight time.

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Friday's results:

American League

Boston Red Sox 9-5 Chicago White Sox
Cleveland 7-4 Detroit
NY Yankees 9-1 Toronto
Texas Rangers 13-7 Tampa Bay
Baltimore 4-3 Anaheim (10 innings)
Oakland Athletics 5-0 Kansas City
Seattle 11-4 Minnesota

National League

Chicago Cubs 4-3 St Louis
Cincinnati 10-5 Florida
Atlanta 7-3 Montreal
Pittsburgh 3-2 Houston
NY Mets 6-1 Philadelphia
Milwaukee 8-0 San Diego
San Francisco 9-5 Arizona
LA Dodgers 4-2 Colorado