Stanton, seeking relief from slump, taps Bonds

7:23 PM ET

MIAMI — Barry Bonds stood in the batting cage holding a bat as he held court. His audience: slumping slugger Giancarlo Stanton.

“I haven’t hit in a while, so I can’t do it perfect,” Bonds said before taking another cut. “But I’m trying not to swing so hard.”

To punctuate his point, the home run king lined a pitch down the third-base line.

Stanton nodded.

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The Miami Marlins’ cleanup hitter and batting coach spent more than half an hour together before Friday’s game against Washington trying to solve the slump. Stanton went into the weekend in a 4-for-41 funk that dropped his average to .221, with strikeouts in his past seven at-bats. He has 11 homers, but only one RBI since May 6.

Bonds said the session in the cage on an otherwise deserted field at Marlins Park was Stanton’s idea.

“He …

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