After hitting a three-run homer in the second, Chris Snyder receives congratulations from Diamondbacks teammates Stephen Drew and Mark Reynolds.

Other articles by Jack Magruder:

Dunn playing 1st: 'It's fine with me' Dunn deal: D-backs acquire slugger from Reds Trip has a blue ending Johnson now No. 2 in career strikeouts Clutch-hitting Jackson gives sore hamstring rest Lilly helps Cubs take down D-backs Dodging defeat in L.A. Rookie brings the heat Snyder evolving into team leader Hammock's a catcher: Just ask him

Finance and Accounting
Tohono O'odham Nation
Controller and Assistant Controller Engineering
CIMETTA ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION
QUALIFIED PARTY (MSHA & OSHA CERT) Trades/Construction
Cascade Electric
Journeymen Electricians Administrative & Professional
La Paloma Family Services, Inc.
Licensing Specialist Trades/Construction
Best Paving
Asphalt Finish Roller Operators Driver/Transportation
Western Emulsions
Class A CDL Drivers w/hazmat & tanker Health Care
Sonora Quest
Phlebotomist

LOS ANGELES — The Diamondbacks can differ on the importance of their Sunday victory over the Dodgers, but the fact that they could debate the point made their plane ride home so much more palatable.

With Edgar Gonzalez giving the D-backs another strong start and Chris Snyder doing what he does in L.A., they won the finale of their series against Los Angeles 6-1 in a game Eric Byrnes said the day before was as close to a must-win game as any they had played this year.

"I disagreed with him, but we disagree from time to time," manager Bob Melvin said. "Nothing's a must win until you are one game out with a game to go.

"But because we lost the first two, it was a significant game. I don't get into must wins until they are absolutely must wins."

The D-backs (84-66) earned a split of their six-game road trip and maintained a two-game lead over San Diego in the NL West with 12 games to play.

It is the type of situation in which the D-backs have excelled all year, whether it is at a defining point of a game — they have 37 come-from-behind victories — or, perhaps, of a season.

"We keep grinding. We keep fighting. We showed that today," said Snyder, who homered for the second time in as many series in Los Angeles and has eight of his 30 career home runs against the Dodgers.

Byrnes said the D-backs have not had a bigger victory, "but at the same time, the Padres aren't going anywhere."

The D-backs open their final homestand with the first of a three-game series against San Francisco today. They play the Dodgers this weekend.

"You have to avoid a sweep at all costs. That was big," said Snyder, whose home run was only the most dramatic of his contributions.

Snyder also singled and scored on Chad Tracy's pinch single in the sixth inning and threw out two Dodgers on the bases.

The catcher picked off Jeff Kent after he strayed too far from first base with two men on to end the fourth inning, when Rafael Furcal's leadoff homer proved to be their only run.

"That was one of those momentum-shift type of things, to get a cheap out right there," Melvin said of Snyder's pickoff.

Gonzalez gave up one run in five innings in his second start on the trip after rejoining the rotation after a three-month absence.

James Loney's one-hopper in the fourth struck Gonzalez just above his right ankle, but Gonzalez said he felt only an initial sting while remaining in the game.

"The good thing is, I always wear three pairs of socks. It was no big deal," Gonzalez said.