Timing Good for Gonzalez

Luis Gonzalez tried to define what has helped create his career season.

“I think I’ve matured more as a hitter,” he said. “I’ve opened up my stance a little bit, I have a better idea of what I want to do.”

Gonzalez hit his 32nd home run and went three for four Saturday as the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Colorado Rockies, 9-5, at Denver.

“Luis has been something special so far and always seems to give us something when we needed it,” Arizona Manager Bob Brenly said. “Today I turned to one of our coaches and said it was about time Luis hit a home run for us. On the next pitch, he hit one into the right-field seats.”

Erubiel Durazo hit a tiebreaking single in the ninth inning and Reggie Sanders followed with a three-run homer for Arizona, which has won three in a row and eight of nine.

Dave Dellucci had a two-run home run, his third pinch homer of the season, helping extend Colorado’s longest losing streak of the season to six games.

Atlanta 9, New York 3--The Braves survived shaky relief pitching from temporary closer Mike Remlinger before scoring six runs in the 11th inning to win at New York.

Chipper Jones homered in the fifth and hit a two-run double in the 11th to again torment the Mets. Jones is batting .362 lifetime against the Mets with 23 home runs.

The Braves already missed John Rocker, one day after they traded the controversial closer to Cleveland. With new closer Steve Karsay still not with the team, Manager Bobby Cox used Remlinger to protect a 3-2 lead in the ninth but Desi Relaford hit his fourth home run with one out.

Steve Reed, acquired in the Rocker trade, pitched a scoreless 10th inning and got the win.

Florida 12, Philadelphia 1--Kevin Millar hit a grand slam and the Marlins routed Philadelphia for the second game in a row at Miamiand pulled within 2 1/2 games of the NL East-leading Phillies.

Cliff Floyd extended his hitting streak to a career-high 17 games with two doubles and a single, and drove in three runs. Mike Lowell homered for Florida.

Milwaukee 4, Chicago 0--Jamey Wright took a shutout into the ninth inning and Richie Sexson hit a three-run homer as the Brewers won for the second game in a row at Chicago.

Wright (7-4) gave up five hits in eight-plus innings to win his career-best fourth consecutive decision.

Houston 9, Cincinnati 3--Shane Reynolds surpassed his win total from an injury-interrupted 2000 season and Jeff Bagwell hit a three-run homer to lead the Astros at Houston.

Reynolds (8-5) won for the fourth time in his last five starts. He gave up seven hits and struck out eight in his second complete game of the season.

Pittsburgh 7, Montreal 4--After losing eight in a row to start the season, Todd Ritchie won his third consecutive start and drove in a run with a double to lead the Pirates to a victory at Pittsburgh.