ROUNDUP : Gonzalez Helps Diamondbacks Batter Mets

New York pitchers couldn’t figure out how to get Luis Gonzalez out Sunday night at Phoenix. Met hitters couldn’t figure out the Arizona bullpen, regardless of who was on the mound.

Gonzalez drove in four runs with a home run, two doubles and a single and Diamondback relievers Brian Anderson, Greg Swindell and Gregg Olson shut out the Mets on one hit over the last five innings and retired the last 12 batters as the Diamondbacks defeated the Mets, 8-4, to take two of three.

“After that first double fell in between those two guys, I knew it was going to be a good day,” Gonzalez said. “A day like today, every time I came up to the plate I had runners in scoring position. When I have that, I just try to hit the ball hard in play.”

New York fell 3 1/2 games behind first-place Atlanta in the NL East. The Diamondbacks, winners of 12 of their last 14, stayed 8 1/2 games ahead of second-place San Francisco in the NL West.

Gonzalez has hit safely in his last 13 games, his fourth double-digit hitting streak of the season.

“I think he’s been in a groove since about the last week of spring training,” Manager Buck Showalter said. “We’ve run out of words to describe what he’s meant to us this year.”

The home run was Gonzalez’s 23rd, tying the career best he set last year with Detroit.

Atlanta 4, St. Louis 3--Chipper Jones homered with one out in the 12th inning as the Braves extended their winning streak to 10 games with a victory over the Cardinals at St. Louis.

Jones hit a 2-2 fastball from Juan Acevedo (5-6) over the center-field wall for his 34th homer, and sent the Cardinals to their season-worst sixth consecutive loss.

The Braves’ streak is their longest since they won 13 in a row from July 8-25, 1992, to tie the team record set in 1982. Atlanta has a 2.16 earned-run average during the streak and the best record in the majors at 83-49.

San Francisco 5, Pittsburgh 3--Shawn Estes pitched eight strong innings and J.T. Snow drove in three runs as the Giants defeated the Pirates at San Francisco.

Estes (9-7) gave up six hits, struck out eight and walked one. Robb Nen struck out the side in the ninth for his 30th save, tying Mike Marshall (178) for 31st on the career list.

Barry Bonds hit a solo homer, his 26th, off Kris Benson (10-11) in the first inning. Snow hit his 19th home run off Greg Hansell in the seventh.

Houston 10, Florida 4--Wild Mike Hampton tied teammate Jose Lima with his NL-leading 17th victory and rookies Daryle Ward and Lance Berkman homered on consecutive pitches as the Astros defeated the Marlins at Houston to move 1 1/2 games up on Cincinnati in the NL Central.

Ward’s three-run homer and Berkman’s solo shot erased the Marlins’ 2-1 lead in the sixth inning.

Hampton (17-3) overcame a career high-tying seven walks and improved to 8-0 in his last 11 starts. He gave up three earned runs in 7 1/3 innings.

Montreal 8, Cincinnati 6--Geoff Blum’s triple drove in the tying and go-ahead runs in the sixth inning at Montreal as the Expos spoiled Pete Harnisch’s second attempt for his 100th career victory.

Trailing, 6-5, with runners on first and second and two outs, Blum tripled to put the Expos ahead and chase Harnisch (13-8).

Harnisch, who lost his previous start to end a personal eight-game winning streak, had a 5-0 lead and held Montreal hitless through the first four innings before the Expos scored five times in the fifth to tie the game.

Colorado 6, Philadelphia 5--Darryl Kile overcame a shaky start and Larry Walker had three hits as the Rockies defeated the Phillies to complete a three-game sweep at Denver.

Kile (8-12), pitching on three days’ rest, gave up four runs in the first three innings but recovered to win his eighth consecutive decision over the Phillies. His 13 career victories against Philadelphia are his most against any team.

Walker went three for five with three singles to raise his league-leading average to .366.