Record-tying 755 Barry'd

Barry Bonds celebrates with his batboy son, Nikolai, after hitting home run No. 755, driving a 2-1 pitch from Clay Hensley over the left-center field fence. Padres fans responded with a mix of boos and cheers.

Barry Bonds firmly placed Padres pitcher Clay Hensley and Petco Park in baseball's record books last night. Others will decide if an asterisk should be affixed.

Bonds, hitting an outside fastball off the second deck in left field, tied Hank Aaron as the majors' career home run leader.

No. 755, a leadoff drive off a 2-1 fastball in the second inning, went an estimated 382 feet, then caromed off an advertising board and down to a 33-year-old La Jolla man near the first row.

“The hard part is over,” said Bonds, who forwarded an autographed bat to Hensley. “This is the hardest thing I've done in my entire career.”

Said Hensley: “I felt like I played the game the right way. First and foremost, we're trying to win the game. I went after him and he got the pitch. I wasn't trying to pitch around him, and he hit the ball that was up.”

Bonds, 43, clapped as he headed to first base, then circled the bases to a standing ovation from the sellout crowd, although cheers were muted and boos were heard. Commissioner Bud Selig, a guest of Padres Chairman John Moores in the owner's suite, stood with his hands at his side, a subdued response that may have owed to allegations of steroid use that have followed Bonds. Several fans displayed asterisk signs. Aaron wasn't in the house.

PADRES 3, GIANTS 2 (12) Yesterday: Barry Bonds hits 755, but the Padres hang on to win in the 12th. Today: 1:05 p.m. at Petco; Giants' Noah Lowry (12-7, 3.32 ERA) vs. Justin Germano (6-6, 4.38 ERA) On the air: 4 San Diego,1090-AM, 105.7-FM

“Congratulations to Barry Bonds as he ties Major League Baseball's home run record,” Selig said in an issued statement. “No matter what anybody thinks of the controversy surrounding this event, Mr. Bonds' achievement is noteworthy and remarkable.”

The Padres went on to win 3-2 when Khalil Greene singled home Marcus Giles with one out and the bases loaded in the 12th inning.

Hensley, who slumped as Bonds trotted the basepaths, said he was upset mostly because the home run had tied the game 1-1. Two innings later, Hensley threw to Bonds a fat change-up, a 2-0 pitch that Bonds fouled off. Hensley missed well low with his next two pitches, and he again walked Bonds in the fifth.

BARRY BONDS: BY PITCH BY PITCH AT-BAT NO. 1 Inning: Second Pitcher: Clay Hensley Situation: Leading off Pitch 1: Called strike Pitch 2: Ball high Pitch 3: Ball high Pitch 4: Homers off an outside fastball, driving the ball 382 feet the opposite way off the face of the second deck in left to tie Hank Aaron for the all-time homer lead. AT-BAT NO. 2 Inning: Fourth Pitcher: Hensley Situation: Leading off Pitch 1: Ball outside Pitch 2: Ball outside Pitch 3: Strike, fouled back Pitch 4: Ball outside Pitch 5: Walks on outside fastball AT-BAT NO. 3 Inning: Fifth Pitcher: Hensley Situation: Runner on first, two out Pitch 1: Ball low and in the dirt Pitch 2: Ball low Pitch 3: Called strike Pitch 4: Ball inside Pitch 5: Walks on ball low and in the dirt AT-BAT NO. 4 Inning: Eighth Pitcher: Heath Bell Situation: None on, one out Pitch 1: Ball high Pitch 2: Ball high Pitch 3: Ball outside Pitch 4: Strike, called Pitch 5: Strike, fouled off third Pitch 6: Walks on outside fastball

When Bonds next batted in the eighth, Padres reliever Heath Bell was loudly booed for falling behind 3-0.

“I was upset that people booed me in my home,” Bell said. Bonds would walk a third time, on a 3-2 pitch from Bell, then was replaced by a pinch runner. Giants manager Bruce Bochy said Bonds will sit out today's game, which would increase chances that Bonds will surpass Aaron in San Francisco, where the Giants return tomorrow to host Washington and then Pittsburgh.

San Diego often has suited Bonds, who has hit more home runs here than any visiting player.

“I don't like that it was against one of my pitchers,” Bell said, “but it was good to see him tie the record. It was cool to be part of the game.”

Padres center fielder Mike Cameron, who was a little boy in Georgia when Aaron broke Babe Ruth's home run record in Atlanta, said it was “special” to see Bonds tie Aaron. “The guy has done a lot of good things,” he said.

Padres closer Trevor Hoffman said last summer that he was disappointed for Aaron and other hitters of previous generations whose records are under siege from players who dominated this, the so-called Steroid Era. But Hoffman also has said pitchers of his time also may have benefited from performance-enhancing drugs, and that he himself may have benefited from teammates who took them.

As a Padres minor leaguer in 2005, Hensley tested positive for a banned substance that he reportedly said was in a dietary supplement he ingested.