Usual Suspects Lead Diamondbacks

Luis Gonzalez hit his 49th home run to help Randy Johnson and the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 4-1 win Tuesday night at Phoenix over the San Francisco Giants in the opener of a key National League West series.

The left-hander won his 18th to tie teammate Curt Schilling for the most victories in the majors. He struck out nine and gave up one run and six hits in eight innings.

Johnson (18-6), who threw 128 pitches, walked three, including Barry Bonds twice. Bonds was 0 for 2.

Reggie Sanders homered for the fifth time in five games as the Diamondbacks won their eighth home game in a row to boost their division lead to 31/2 games over San Francisco.

The game was the first of six between Arizona and San Francisco over a 10-day span.

Johnson improved to 9-1 over his last 12 starts and beat the Giants for the first time in four tries this season. Byung-Hyun Kim pitched the ninth for his 14th save in 16 chances.

Sanders and Gonzalez each hit two-run homers off Livan Hernandez (11-13) to give Johnson an early 4-0 lead. Sanders’ home run was his career-high 30th.

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Montreal 7, Atlanta 0--Javier Vazquez got his fifth win this month, giving up five hits, no walks and striking out seven for his third shutout for the Expos at Atlanta. The right-hander made 100 pitches, 70 of them strikes, as he improved to 5-1 this month with an 0.54 ERA.

Jose Vidro, Lee Stevens and Geoff Blum homered for Montreal, which gave the Braves their fourth loss in five games at Turner Field, where they are 8-16 since July 13.

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Philadelphia 9, New York 6--Jimmy Rollins and Scott Rolen homered in the 11th inning at New York to lift the Phillies into a first-place tie in the NL East. Winning for only the fourth time in 12 games, the Phillies drew even with Atlanta for the first time in 11 days.

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Houston 6, Cincinnati 4--Jeff Bagwell’s 33rd home run broke a tie and Wade Miller won his 14th game as Houston won at home. Bagwell’s home run snapped a 4-4 tie in the seventh. Miller (14-7) pitched seven innings and gave up four runs on eight hits, including two solo homers by Dmitri Young.

Billy Wagner pitched the ninth for his 31st save in 33 opportunities.

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San Diego 5, St. Louis 2--Ryan Klesko homered at St. Louis and reached 100 RBIs for the first time in his career as San Diego ended an 11-game losing streak against the Cardinals.

Jim Edmonds was thrown out at the plate to end the game. Craig Paquette hit an RBI double, but Edmonds tried to score from first on the play and was easily caught in a relay from left fielder Ray Lankford to shortstop D’Angelo Jimenez to home.

Rookie Brian Lawrence (4-3) gave up four hits in 82/3 innings.

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Pittsburgh 6, Milwaukee 5--Abraham Nunez hit a two-run triple in the eighth inning for the Pirates at Milwaukee, ending an eight-game road losing streak for Pittsburgh, which has the worst road record in the majors.