Diamondbacks Ruin Schilling’s Return, 8-2

The second half of the season is definitely not starting out like the first for Curt Schilling.

The National League starter in the All-Star game, who hadn’t pitched in 14 days because of a biceps strain and his wife’s hospitalization, returned to the Philadelphia Phillies’ rotation Saturday only to be rocked by the Arizona Diamondbacks in an 8-2 loss at Philadelphia.

Schilling (14-5) gave up eight runs, seven earned, and eight hits, including three home runs, in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out six and walked three.

The lack of work appeared to hurt Schilling early as Arizona had four hits and three runs in the first inning.

“I was a little stiff at first, but I got loose after a couple of batters,” he said. “It wasn’t as much of a problem as I thought it might be.

“I felt good. There was no pain at all. I made three big mistakes and a couple of little ones.”

After Tony Womack led off with a single, Jay Bell slammed his 29th homer. Rookie Erubiel Durazo capped the scoring with a run-scoring single.

Durazo hit the first home run of his career in the fourth, and Matt Williams homered in the seventh.

After winning only once in his last five starts, Andy Benes handcuffed the Phillies, striking out 10 in 6 2/3 innings as he improved to 15-6 against the Phillies in 25 starts.

Pittsburgh 3, St. Louis 1--Francisco Cordova held the Cardinals to one run over 7 2/3 innings at Pittsburgh and prevented Kent Bottenfield from becoming the majors’ first 16-game winner.

Cordova (7-5) continued his strong pitching since the All-Star break, striking out 10 for the second game in a row. He has won four of his last six starts.

Mark McGwire struck out in his first two-bats before flying out in the sixth and hitting a single in the eighth. McGwire is one for eight since career home runs 500 and 501 Thursday.

Florida 4, Colorado 1--Brian Meadows pitched seven innings and Kevin Millar hit a tiebreaking home run to lead the Marlins at Miami.

Meadows (9-11) gave up seven hits and one run. Antonio Alfonseca pitched a perfect ninth for his ninth save.

Millar broke a 1-1 tie in the fourth with his seventh homer after Bruce Aven led off with a walk against Brian Bohanon (10-9). Luis Castillo had his third consecutive three-hit game and drove in the Marlins’ final run in the seventh with an infield single.

Atlanta 15, San Franciso 4--Streaking Gerald Williams set a career high with his 11th homer and also had five runs batted in as the Braves, after falling behind 3-0 in the first inning, rebounded for a rout of the Giants at Atlanta.

Terry Mulholland gave up four consecutive hits to begin the game, but he survived the shaky start to pick up his 100th career victory and first for the Braves since being acquired a week earlier in a trade with the Chicago Cubs.

The Braves won their third in a row. The Giants fell 4 1/2 games behind Arizona in the NL West.

Houston 10, Chicago 4--Russ Johnson drove in a career-high six runs and Carl Everett hit two home runs to support Scott Elarton and lead the Astros to a victory over the Cubs at Chicago.

Johnson, who also had a career-high four hits, hit a two-run single in the third, a two-run double in the fourth and run-scoring singles in the eighth and ninth.

Everett homered from both sides of the plate, hitting a solo homer against right-hander Kevin Tapani with one out in the second and a solo homer with one out in the seventh off left-hander Felix Heredia.

Milwaukee 6, Cincinnati 4--The Brewers scored four runs against the major leagues’ best bullpen to overcome a two-run deficit at Milwaukee and defeat the Reds to end a six-game losing streak.

Milwaukee got to the Reds’ bullpen, which leads the majors with 27 wins and a 2.96 ERA, for one run in the seventh and three in the eighth to make a winner of reliever David Weathers.