Benson Returns to Hurt Mets

Kris Benson wouldn’t lie. Pitching against the New York Mets on Saturday night was special. Hitting the first home run of his career made it even better.

Benson celebrated his return to Shea Stadium throwing eight effective innings and retiring the last 15 batters he faced in the Baltimore Orioles’ 4-2 victory over the Mets, the team that traded him away last January after he pleaded to stay in New York.

“It’s great to come back and pitch well against the last team you played for, especially with all the stuff going on,” Benson said.

He had suspected the Mets would be contending for a championship this season and wanted to be part of that effort. New York had other ideas, dealing him to the Orioles for pitchers Jorge Julio and John Maine. Julio has since moved on to Arizona and Maine spent six weeks on the disabled list.

“It was a baseball trade,” Benson said, shrugging off the deal. “I’m having a great time in Baltimore and I’m still in baseball.”

Still, there was special satisfaction, especially with his third-inning home run, the first of his career and the first by a Baltimore pitcher since Roric Harrison hit one in 1972, the year before the designated hitter rule was adopted by the American League.

The victory was Benson’s sixth on the road this season for a team that has won only 13 games away from home. He did not allow a hit after the fourth inning and retired the last 15 hitters he faced.

“He was on,” Mets Manager Willie Randolph said. “He threw a great ballgame. He had pretty good velocity toward the end, mixed his pitches up really well.”

Benson (8-5) connected against Mets starter Pedro Martinez (6-3) in the third inning.

“He’s a pitcher,” Martinez said. “Whenever I fall behind them [a pitcher] I’m not going to fool around. Make him hit it. The next time up he popped up to center field. Same pitch. Same location. Fastball. Eighty-five, 86 miles per hour.”

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Texas 8, Arizona 4 -- Gary Matthews Jr. hit a two-run homer and robbed Shawn Green of a homer to help the Rangers get the win at Arlington, Texas.

Matthews made a terrific catch on Green’s bid for a homer in the fourth. He raced into right-center, leaped at the warning track and stuck his glove over the wall to haul in Green’s drive.

Milwaukee 3, Cleveland 2 -- Geoff Jenkins hit a two-run single in the bottom of the ninth to lift the Brewers to the win at Milwaukee.

Bob Wickman (1-2) blew his second save in 11 opportunities and wasted Jake Westbrook’s dominating performance in a duel with Brewers starter Dave Bush.

Houston 7, Kansas City 2 -- Taylor Buchholz gave up two hits in six innings and Lance Berkman had a double and four RBIs for the Astros at Houston.

Mike Lamb had an RBI single and scored three runs as Houston won for the ninth time in 12 games and improved to 24-15 at Minute Maid Park.

Tampa Bay 7, Philadelphia 2 -- At Philadelphia, Rocco Baldelli and Carl Crawford homered, Scott Kazmir pitched five solid innings and the Devil Rays handed the Phillies’ their sixth straight loss.

Kazmir (8-4) outpitched fellow 2002 draft pick Scott Mathieson, making his major league debut for the Phillies. Kazmir struck out nine to become the 23rd left-hander since 1900 to reach 300 career strikeouts before his 23rd birthday.

Florida 8, Toronto 2 -- Brian Moehler pitched seven strong innings at Miami and won for the fifth time in six decisions as the Marlins won their seventh straight game.

The Marlins, winners of 17 of their last 23, are on their longest winning streak since a nine-game run Aug. 27-Sept. 8, 2004.

Chicago White Sox 8, Cincinnati 6 -- Second baseman Brandon Phillips made a throwing error in the White Sox’s three-run ninth inning as they rallied at Cincinnati to preserve Jose Contreras’ unbeaten streak.

Contreras struck out a career-high 13 batters but was looking at the end of his 15-game regular-season winning streak when he left trailing, 5-3, in the sixth.

Minnesota 5, Pittsburgh 3 -- Justin Morneau hit the Twins’ third homer of the game to break an eighth-inning tie at Pittsburgh and give the Twins their sixth victory in a row.

Jason Kubel and Terry Tiffeealso homered for the Twins -- consecutive drives to start the third inning against rookie Paul Maholm.

Boston 5, Atlanta 3 -- David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis each hit solo home runs to power the Red Sox at Atlanta over the struggling Braves, who have lost six in a row.

Atlanta lost for the 16th time in 19 games and fell to 30-39. The Braves haven’t been that far under .500 since the end of the 1990 season, when they finished 67-95 and 26 games back.

Seattle 8, San Francisco 1 -- Gil Meche (7-4) held Barry Bonds without a home run at Seattle and pitched his first complete game since a 2-0 win over Boston on Sept. 12, 2004. Bonds had homered in each of his previous two games to get within 37 home runs of Hank Aaron’s record.

Detroit 9, Chicago Cubs 3 -- Carlos Guillen, Magglio Ordonez and Placido Polanco had three hits apiece at Chicago to lead the Tigers to their eighth victory in 10 games. Justin Verlander (8-4) gave up nine hits but only one run in 5 2/3 innings for his first victory since May 27.

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NATIONAL LEAGUE

St. Louis 6, Colorado 5 -- Jeff Suppan pitched into the eighth inning for his 100th career victory and Juan Encarnacion homered twice to lead the Cardinals at St. Louis.