Bonds connected on career homer No. 728 and Ray Durham and Moises Alou hit back-to-back blasts in the sixth, also off Marshall, to lead the San Francisco Giants to a 4-2 victory over the Cubs.

On the plus side for the Cubs, Derrek Lee showed that his right wrist is strong as he hit his first homer since June 28, and Marshall, making his first start off the disabled list, was unlucky with two pitches, but healthy. A rookie mistake thwarted a potential ninth-inning rally.

Lee led off the ninth against Armando Benitez with his homer, his fifth, to make it 4-2. He's now 9-for-20 since coming off the disabled list.

"Home runs just come when your swing is there," Lee said. "They come by accident. That's what happened. I was trying to get on base and put a good swing on it."

Jacque Jones then singled, stole second and reached third on Henry Blanco's groundout. Pinch-hitter Ryan Theriot walked, and Benitez was pulled for lefty Mike Stanton. Stanton got ahead 0-2 against Ronny Cedeno, then threw a ball in the dirt. On the next pitch, the veteran lefty picked off Theriot at first.

"Stanton hadn't shown him the move the whole time," Cubs manager Dusty Baker said. "He waited until the perfect time to show him the move. That was a mistake."

"God got the guy out," Giants manager Felipe Alou said.

"We'll take divine intervention at any time," Stanton said.

"The guy's got a great move," said Theriot, who had been the hero the two previous games, collecting five hits Wednesday and hitting his first Major League homer Friday.

"He picked me off," Theriot said. "I've never seen him before. I wasn't ready for that -- that pickoff was really good."

Most of the Cubs knew what to watch for.

"We should've let him know about Stanton's move," Lee said. "Him being young, he's never seen him. Stanton has, if not the best, one of the best pickoff moves in the game. [Theriot] just didn't know it. We could've done a better job letting him know about it."

Marshall knew all about Bonds. The lefty, making his first start since July 22, served up the slugger's homer on a 3-2 pitch with two outs in the fourth inning, his 20th of the season.

"He's hot right now," Marshall said of Bonds. "He's the one guy in the lineup really swinging the bat well. The homer he hit was a pretty good pitch I made, but he's Barry Bonds and if you throw the same pitch twice, he'll make an adjustment quick and you'll be punished for it."

"His pitch recognition is probably beyond compare," Baker said. "He's hit a whole bunch of them out of the park before he did today.

"This guy is one of the greatest of all times. He's been great all his life since he was a little kid. I appreciate [what he's done] big time. I just wish he wouldn't do it against us."

"Unbelievable," Lee said of Bonds. "Best hitter ever. You can say what you want about him but he's the best hitter ever."

Bonds' blast helped Giants starter Matt Cain (11-9), who retired the first 12 batters he faced before Lee singled to lead off the Cubs' fifth. Lee eventually scored on Cedeno's bunt single.

With two outs in the Giants' sixth, Bonds walked and Durham followed with his 21st home run, followed two pitches later by Alou's 15th blast to open a 4-1 lead.

"I got on a roll for the first couple innings and didn't get away with some mistakes in the sixth," Marshall said. "I've said before that if you make mistakes up here, you get hurt for it, and I got hurt for it."

Marshall, who had been sidelined with a strained right oblique, made his 20th big-league start Saturday and the 60th by a Cubs rookie pitcher this year. The lefty gave up four runs on five hits and two walks over 5 2/3 innings.

The game was one Cubs catcher Michael Barrett would like to forget. He left after five innings when he took a foul tip off his groin. Barrett was feeling ill and was taken to a local hospital as a precautionary measure. His status was day-to-day.

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.