ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Luis Gonzalez homered and had two RBIs, and Russell Martin hit a two-run single to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 6-3 Friday night.

Gonzalez, who is from nearby Tampa, hit a solo homer in a two-run second and added an RBI triple in a two-run eighth that put the Dodgers ahead 6-3. It was his first home run at Tropicana Field since he connected for the first homer ever at the stadium while playing for Detroit on March 31, 1998.

Gonzalez joined Olmedo Saenz, Mike Kinkade and Chad Kreuter as the only Dodgers players to homer as a designated hitter.

Martin’s single gave the Dodgers a 4-0 lead in the fifth.

Derek Lowe (8-6) gave up three runs and five hits in 6 2-3 innings. Takashi Saito pitched the ninth for his 20th save in 21 chances, striking out Jonny Gomes to end the game with two on.

Delmon Young homered and drove in two runs for the Devil Rays. Andy Sonnanstine (1-2) allowed four runs and 10 hits in seven innings.

Young had an RBI single in the fifth, then cut the Devil Rays deficit to 4-3 with a seventh-inning solo homer. Carl Crawford hit a run-scoring triple during the sixth.

Tampa Bay optioned troubled outfielder Elijah Dukes to the minors and placed him on the temporary inactive list before the game, a move the Devil Rays hope will enable the 22-year-old rookie to get his personal life on track.

Dukes, whose temper has been a concern ever since the team selected him in the third round of the 2002 amateur draft, has been under constant scrutiny since his estranged wife revealed she sought a restraining order after being threatened by the athlete last month.

The Devil Rays (31-40) also held a team meeting before batting practice. Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said Dukes’ situation was not addressed during the 25-minute session.

“We didn’t talk about him at all,” Maddon said. “We’re going to keep advancing forward. I just talked to the players about things, for instance, when you look at our record right now, if we had just done a couple other things properly that record would actually be reversed. I wanted to do it now because I believe we’re a lot closer than a lot of people realize.”

Notes: Los Angeles CF Juan Pierre played in his 345th consecutive game, the longest current streak in the majors after Baltimore SS Miguel Tejada was placed on the 15-day DL Friday with a non-displaced fracture of his left wrist, which ended his streak of consecutive games played at 1,152. … The Devil Rays purchased the contract of OF Dustan Mohr from Triple-A Durham.

AP-ES-06-22-07 2204EDT