San Francisco ? Barry Bonds was ready to make history. Juan Pierre made him wait a little longer.

Pierre’s leaping catch against the wall in center robbed Bonds of home run No. 714, and the San Francisco slugger remained one shy of tying Babe Ruth for second place after the Giants’ 6-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night.

“I know I ruined about 40,000 people’s nights tonight,” Pierre said.

Bonds, who had the night off for Monday’s makeup game with Houston, went 1-for-4 with a single two nights after hitting 713 with a 450-foot shot in Philadelphia. He drew a five-pitch walk in the first, flied out to center leading off the fourth, then watched Pierre’s catch in the fifth before singling in the seventh.

He left the ballpark without talking to reporters and was hugged from behind by 7-year-old daughter Aisha outside the clubhouse as he made his way out. His entourage included Sacramento Kings’ owner Gavin Maloof the same day his NBA team fired coach Rick Adelman.

Pierre went against the wall to snag Bonds’ long line drive seemingly destined for the other side of the center-field fence.

“I thought it was gone,” said Moises Alou, Bonds’ injured teammate who watched that at-bat on a clubhouse TV. “I don’t know if the ball would have been over, but when he hit it I thought it was gone.”

Bonds flied out to right in the eighth.

Two of his teammates did hit homers.

Lance Niekro had a two-run shot and singled in a run and Randy Winn added a solo drive for San Francisco to help Jason Schmidt (3-2) win his sixth straight decision against the Cubs and earn his third victory in a row. Schmidt has pitched back-to-back complete games and is the first Giants pitcher to do it since he got three straight from June 19-30, 2003.

Schmidt allowed five hits, struck out six and walked none.

“That was nice for a change,” Schmidt said. “I think one of the great things playing here, any time Barry is going for a certain milestone, it creates a playoff atmosphere, a little extra. The team feeds off that.”

In the fifth, Bonds smoked a 92 mph fastball – the fastest pitch he saw all night from rookie Rich Hill – to straightaway center and Pierre leaped to catch the ball on the top of the 8-foot wall.