"The Pacific time zone wasn't too good to us," Cubs manager Dusty Baker said. "It was a bad road trip."

It was awful. The Cubs ended their nine-game trip at 1-8 with a 9-3 loss on Thursday to the San Francisco Giants. Steve Finley hit a three-run triple and Lance Niekro added a two-run double to back Jamey Wright (3-3) and power the Giants.

Barry Bonds will resume his home run exploits on Friday. He was 0-for-3 on Thursday and 1-for-9 in the series.

"I'll be cheering him on now," Juan Pierre said of the Giants slugger. "I hope he gets it tomorrow."

Pierre can only hope he gets his game back on track. The Cubs center fielder scored one run on the road trip and was bumped from the leadoff spot for two games. Baker said Pierre will be back at No. 1 on Friday when the Cubs play host to the San Diego Padres.

"I realize I'm not getting the job done," said Pierre, who hit .189 on the trip.

He wasn't alone.

"I don't know what to say other than it was a terrible trip for us," Cubs catcher Michael Barrett said. "To come away with one win, it's really unexplainable. I don't know if I've ever had a trip this bad, personally."

Sean Marshall (2-1) suffered his first loss, giving up nine runs on nine hits and five walks over 3 2/3 innings. The rookie left-hander had not served up more than four runs in any of his six previous starts.

"You know he's due for a bad one -- it's just a bad time for it," Baker said. "He had thrown good games except for today."

"I didn't execute my pitches that well today," Marshall said. "You can't always have outstanding outings. It's baseball. You minimize the ones like this and you'll have a good season."

Marshall intentionally walked Bonds in the first, got him to ground out in the second, and walked him again on five pitches in the fourth. Bonds flew out to right against Roberto Novoa in the sixth and flew out to center in the eighth against Will Ohman.

"I tried to go after him like any other left-handed hitter," Marshall said.

The Giants jumped on Marshall and opened a 5-0 lead in the first. They sent 10 batters to the plate, beginning with Randy Winn's leadoff walk. Omar Vizquel then singled to set up Niekro's two-run double.

Marshall intentionally walked Bonds, and Pedro Feliz followed with an RBI single. Finley reached on an infield hit, and Mike Matheny hit an RBI single to make it 4-0. Another run scored when Kevin Frandsen hit into a fielder's choice.

The Cubs have plenty of issues to deal with. They are batting .246, next to last in the National League, and have scored three runs or less in the nine losses.

Baker said he'll likely sit Todd Walker on Friday, saying the infielder's "confidence is a little down." Walker was 5-for-35 (.143) on the road trip.

"I don't feel tired," Walker said. "If you're putting the ball in play, for me, that's all I can do. I get hits taken away from me, that's when I go in slumps. I know my own game. As long as I'm not striking out on a consistent basis and I'm putting the ball in play, I'm where I need to be.

"Collectively, we're not getting the two-out hits, and in some of these games we get behind so much that I think people start to press," Walker said. "I believe in winning streaks just like losing streaks. We put eight or nine together here, we're back where we want to be."

It's the second month of the season. Is it too late?

"There comes a time where it's put up or shut up," Pierre said. "It's time to get back on the right track. You keep saying it's early, it's early, but before you know it, it's June."

Hopefully, that's not too late.

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