Gonzalez Gets to 30 in a Row in First At-Bat

Luis Gonzalez wasted little time in extending his hitting streak to 30 games, homering in his first at-bat as the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the San Francisco Giants, 7-3, Tuesday night to take over sole possession of first place in the NL West.

Travis Lee added a grand slam for the Diamondbacks.

The victory, Arizona’s second in a row over San Francisco, gave the Diamondbacks a one-game lead over the Giants, who had held at least a share of first place since opening day.

Gonzalez went three for five with two runs batted in and two runs scored for his 16th multihit game of the season.

His 30-game streak matches the longest this decade, reached in 1997 by Boston’s Nomar Garciaparra and Cleveland’s Sandy Alomar Jr., and again last year by Baltimore’s Eric Davis.

Gonzalez’s streak is the longest in the National League since Jerome Walton also hit in 30 in a row in 1989 for Chicago.

Armando Reynoso gave up two runs and nine hits in six-plus innings to beat the Giants for the second time this season. He walked three and struck out four.

Jay Bell walked with one out in the first to set up Gonzalez’s 10th home run, a shot into the right-field seats off Chris Brock to give Arizona a 2-0 lead.

Kelly Stinnett’s fourth-inning home run, his second, gave the Diamondbacks a three-run lead.

J.T. Snow led off the fourth with his second homer for the Giants. They cut the lead to 3-2 in the sixth on Stan Javier’s run-scoring single and had the bases loaded with one out, but Brent Mayne grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Mayne also grounded into a double play in the second, when the Giants squandered a bases-loaded, none-out situation.

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Making Streaking Popular Again

Longest hitting streaks since 1980:

39: Paul Molitor, Milwaukee, 1987

34: Benito Santiago, San Diego, 1987

31: Ken Landreaux, Minnesota, 1980

30: George Brett, Kansas City, 1980

30: Jerome Walton, Chicago, 1989

30: Sandy Alomar, Cleveland, 1997

30: Nomar Garciaparra, Boston, 1997

30: Eric Davis, Baltimore, 1998

30: Luis Gonzalez, Arizona, 1999

AL RECORD

56: Joe DiMaggio, NY Yankees, 1941

NL RECORD

44: Pete Rose, Cincinnati Reds, 1978